


Stupid Cupid!

by Crazytortuga



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Anxiety Disorder, Cupid is an ass, Daddy Issues, Eventual Relationships, First Love, Fluff and Angst, Getting to Know Each Other, Growing Up, Humor, Love Triangles, Love/Hate, Misunderstandings, Multi, Punishment, Randomness, Socially Awkward OC, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-09
Updated: 2016-01-23
Packaged: 2018-05-05 18:48:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 28,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5386541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crazytortuga/pseuds/Crazytortuga
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charlotte, a really obnoxious rich girl, is suddenly forced to become the replacement of Cupid, the God of love. Now, she will have to help everyone in New York City find true love. The problems of that? her twisted sense of reality, zero relationship experience, really perverted mind, and...did I mention she's really obnoxious?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: Panic Attack!

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, everyone! Thanks for taking some of your valuable time to read my story! This is my first fanfic ever! So I really hope you enjoy reading it as much as I'm enjoying writing it!

Located just on the outskirts of New York City, was situated the opulent and unnecessarily large Vandenberg family's mansion.

 

The exquisite 100,000 square foot mega compound, with view to the sea, provided all the necessary amenities to never wish to leave elsewhere. Starting with the imposing 62,000 square feet main house, with 21 bedrooms, 30 bathrooms and a 91 foot-long dining room; followed by three swimming pools and two pool houses (A single pool house? Ha! That's for the Poors.) Its own 164-seat Movie Theater, 10,000 square feet playhouse and bowling alley; various squash courts, tennis courts, basketball courts; and finally, a private gym.

 

All this set on 63 acres of beautiful gardens and extensive plains; where right now, the main character of our story, Charlotte Vandenberg, was about to start her daily archery practice in company of Jose, her favorite butler.

 

However, today's practice was extra especial for the young miss, because the 17 years old bow-shooting-freak, was about to dominate a new trick.

 

“Alright Jose, yesterday training was totally awesome! But it's time we take yesterday's move to another level. So, let's do this the same way as we practiced… you remember, don't you? I'll give you the signal to start, you'll make your shoot and I'll try to stop your arrow on midair using my own! Remember to aim at my head please” Charlotte said, bouncing around the field like a kid on Christmas eve.

 

Her butler sighed and rolled his eyes after hearing his mistress’ extremely reckless petition “Miss Charlotte, I don't think it's wise to do such a thing. I didn't think it was a good idea yesterday, and I'm still thinking the same today, even more now that you are not even wearing your protective suit”

 

The young lady instantly pouted “Jose… if I want to become a badass archer, I need to learn how to dominate this trick without wearing that LA-ME protective suit. Besides, we had practiced this move so many times that there's really no way I could possibly fail”

 

“Please miss… let's think this through again… what if you accidentally get hurt? Or what if your father finds out we are doing this? He would be so…”

 

“Jose!” the young lady interrupted raising a hand “how many times will I have to repeat myself? My dad isn't going to find out!” She said full of conviction until a look of doubt took over her features “hmm… But just in case he **miraculously** does get to find out, I'll just tell him that I forced you into this by threatening you with calling immigration”

 

Jose raised an eyebrow at her “Do you know I was born in Brooklyn right?”

 

“Come on! I even know the full name of your _bisabuela(Grand Grandmother)_ , and she had like six different names!” she replied cheekily “But, I'm pretty sure my pretentious father doesn't. So, if he discover us and believes I forced you, he won't have any reason to fire you… I think”

 

“Is not myself the one I'm worried about Miss Charlotte…”

 

She snorted at him “You worry too much! Come on! Let's get started!” without giving him another chance to retort, she flew to take her quiver and bow.

 

“Please Miss Charlotte, let's practice one more time with you wearing the protective suit, just to be sure, and then we'll see if you are really ready to take such a risk…” he insisted to his overly stubborn mistress.

 

Charlotte turned pensive for a second “That's sound very reasonable Jose… too bad I already burned my protective suit!” she smirked at him mischievously.

 

Jose inhaled deeply and began rubbing his temples “Sigh…Alright!  I'll do it Miss Charlotte. **But!** You must promise me you'll absolutely refrain of telling anyone else about this… and when I said ANYONE, I'm also including Sebastian” he said firmly.

 

“Uh…? Why can't I tell Sebastian? He needs to know about this…” She stomped her foot crankily against the grass to make emphasis “Only if I succeed of course…”

 

Sebastian was Jose's 20 years old only son, and Charlotte's childhood friend. But, unlike the disastrous young lady, Sebastian was annoyingly skillful in everything he did; he was smart, athletic and utterly handsome. That's why Charlotte never passed any opportunity to brag about her accomplishments to him, no matter how insignificant they were.

 

Knowing this fact already, Jose narrowed his eyes at her to show how serious he was about this “If you mutter any word about this to him, I'll stop helping you practice”

 

“Alright Jose, It's a deal” she practically groaned “Plus, I'm sure he will only end up ruining my moment with his nastiness anyway”

 

Without any other word, both of them went to take their respective places on the field.

 

While waiting for Charlotte's signal to make his shot, Jose started remembering the first time he taught the five years old Charlotte and eight years old Sebastian how to shoot a bow _“They were so cute back then, always competing to see who was able to hit the target more times”_ he thought with a smile _“I wonder what happened to them…”_ he snapped sourly.

 

Surprisingly for him and probably everybody else, his clumsy mistress displayed an extraordinary innate ability with the archery bow. She even managed to defeat Sebastian almost every time they were practicing. But as time passed by, his son grew out of it and stopped practicing with them. However, little Charlotte was so happy to find something she was better than Sebastian at that archery became her new obsession.

 

Jose snapped out of his memories when Charlotte finally gave him the signal to start, lifting a little red flag from the other side of the field.

 

Hesitantly, Jose drew his bow, pointing at the head of his really reckless mistress. He could have sworn that after shooting his arrow; everything started moving in slow motion, because he perfectly saw the way his arrow, slowly but sharply, flew across the air towards his mistress direction, who continued immobile in her stance.

 

 _“Why is she taking so long to shoot?”_ Jose wondered “ _maybe she got too scared and went catatonic again?”_ Drops of cold sweat started running down Jose's temples, and his heart began beating so hard he thought it had jumped to his throat “MISS CHAR…” he tried yelling with the intention of warning her.

 

However, his words were cut short, when in a quick but agile movement; Charlotte finally drew her arrow and made her shot, making her arrow collide in midair with Jose's oncoming one and splitting it in half “A-Amazing...” Jose thought as he watched how Charlotte's arrow finalized immune its original trajectory hitting the center of the painted target on his protective suit.

 

“RAWW! HOLY GUACAMOLY! I DID IT JOSE! I SPLIT IN HALF A FRIGGING MOVING ARROW! AND WITHOUT THE LAME PROTECTIVE SUIT ON!” She roared while excitedly jumping up and down. “Did you see how cool it was Jose? Next time you should take a picture of me doing it!” Charlotte yelled happily, skipping towards him.

 

Jose breathed again and tried to calm down his accelerated heartbeat “Yes miss, you did it perfectly…” he panted with a hand over his chest “but… this is the last time…we do this… without you wearing… your protective suit” he added, trying to speak between deep breaths. Even though he almost suffered from a massive heart attack, he needed to admit that his mistress had indeed looked pretty cool making that shoot.

 

They were both enjoying the gleeful moment until…

 

“DAD, CHARLOTTE! WHAT DO YOU THINK U ARE DOING!?” someone's angry voice suddenly yelled from behind.

 

Charlotte and Jose frightfully turned their heads around towards the choleric voice's direction and, as they expected, they were greeted with Sebastian's irritated expression, they didn't even know how or when he got there. Neither of them noticed his presence until now.

 

Jose instantly facepalmed himself and gasped _“Ay no…”_ as soon as he noticed his son’s glare. This was the reason he didn't want Charlotte blabbering anything to him.

 

“Sebas! When did you get here? Did you see that?! I just split an oncoming arrow in half using my own! I'm amazing or what?” She blurted, smiling widely and forgetting about her deal with Jose at an impressive speed.

 

Sebastian’s eyes widened “WHAT? Have you lost your mind Charlotte!? Look at my father! He looks as if he almost suffered a heart attack! I have already told you to stop using my elderly father as a human target!”

 

“Elderly…?” a really offended Jose repeated, frowning and taking out the arrow that was still buried in his protective suit.

 

Charlotte rolled her eyes “Bah...Come on! Sebas, as always, you are overeating, we just…” she started protesting, but made a sudden pause when she noticed Sebastian’s get up “Wow…” She expressed in awe, putting both hands over her blushed cheeks “Sebastian, you look really handsome wearing that business suit” She practically purred while gazing him up and down.

 

He immediately recoiled “Ugh… stop staring at me like that Charlotte” he demanded with an annoyed expression.

 

Oblivious to his discomfort, she advanced towards him “I can't help it… if you don't like it, then stop looking so handsome” she said coyly while invading Sebastian's personal space.

 

“Back off little pervert!” he growled, grabbing Charlotte's head and pushing her off effortlessly. He was already used to her sexual harassment.

 

“Ouch!” she rubbed her head. She was already used to his ruthless treatment.

 

“And dad” He stared at Jose, who was still a little bit offended by the elderly remark “How many times will I have to tell you to stop following all this crazy girl ideas? You always let her push you around”

 

“Sebastian, I'm the one who taught her how to shot a bow in the first place, is my responsibility to make sure she doesn't hurt herself... and we both know she'll end up doing something really stupid if I'm not supervising her”

 

“Yeah, probably” Charlotte agreed, scratching her head with the sharp point of an arrow.

 

“This is a waste of time dad, you know how strongly her father disapproves of this hobby of hers, which in my opinion, it's just a real waste of time, and not to mention, risky. She should be inside the house studying, or doing something equally productive with her time” he continued ranting “Charlotte… you are not a child anymore, star acting your age and respect your father's rules, they are only for your own good” he finally ended his little speech, using the condescending voice he knew Charlotte hated.

 

“Sexy Sebastian…” the miss started, but stopped for a second so she could remember what was the last thing he had said, she got lost in his beautiful eyes in the middle of his scolding “I have the right to decide the way I want to spend my time” she said, finally coming out of her trance “Besides, if I had followed all my father's 'rules' until now, I'm sure that I could have ended up becoming the third wife of some rich middle aged Arab sheikh” she joked, making a horrified expression.

 

“Sheikh Mohammed was a strict but fair man, I'm sure you could have ended up becoming as happy, willing and obedient as his two other wives. It could have been beneficial for you” Sebastian commented back with a straight face.

 

“Wait…What…There really was a sheikh?”

 

“Ay mijo cálmate la señorita solo se está divirtiendo, no está haciendo nada malo” Jose finally intervened in Spanish (Relax son, the miss is only doing this for fun, she's not doing anything bad)

 

His son snorted in clear disbelief “Papa por Dios! te van a terminar despidiendo por su culpa, deja de mimarla y hacer todo lo que ella te pide” Sebastian replied also in Spanish (Dad, for God's sake, you are going to get fired one day because of her, Stop pampering her and doing everything she says)

 

“How can you say that Sebastian!? I'll never let my father fire Jose! Even if I have to marry Sheikh Mohammed to prevent it!” Charlotte yelled dramatically, with a hand on her forehead and a deadpan expression on her face.

 

“Miss...” Jose whispered, almost moved to tears because of his little miss declaration.

 

Sebas darted his eyes between both of them “You two sicken me!”

 

“Anyway!” Charlotte perked up, clapping her hands together “we're really far from the main house, there are not guards patrolling this area at this time of the day, AND I have already checked for any security cameras around here and found none. So… there's no way of anyone ever discovering us” she finished cockily.

 

Sebastian glared at her with the typical almighty/cocky look he tended to use only when he was about to blast Charlotte's confident “Oh, there are not security cameras, hmm?” he muttered while scratching his chin “Then what's that thing at the top of that tree that looks like a paralyzed squirrel?” he pointed with at the strange looking squirrel.

 

Jose and Charlotte followed Sebastian's accusing finger until the top of the tree; at first sight, it just looked like a normal squirrel, just chilling on a tree, but then they saw how the animal's eyes started blinking oddly with red light, and how its body started moving awkwardly with robotic tendencies.

 

“Oh…” both of them exclaimed.

 

The young lady’s hands went to both sides of her head “When did they put that there?! I swear I checked that tree millions of times before and never saw that damn camera-squirrel!”

 

“It’s new, they installed it this morning… that's how I knew you two were here” Sebastian replied with a cocky smirk “I was on my way to have a business lunch with your father and some of his associates, when I suddenly felt something was wrong and went to find you… just to make sure you weren't doing anything stupid and dragging my dad with you, but when I couldn't find neither of you I…”

 

“Ay Dios mío! I'm going to get fired” Jose interrupted his son’s narration to burst into tears (Oh my God)

 

Charlotte began to panic as well “Hold on a second! My dad never checks the security camera's recordings! Why will he do it today?”

 

“I might be guessing here… but I bet a security guard is going to end up watching the recordings the camera-squirrel made today, and will immediately run to inform your father the reckless way both of you were shooting arrows at each other…”

 

“But...” Charlotte tried to protest.

 

“Zip it Charlotte, as I always have to do, I will go and try to fix your mess” Sebastian barked, trying to calm down his too emotional father “Dad, stop crying and listen to me! It’s already noon so I bet all those lazy guards are out eating lunch or something. I will go and enter the security camera’s room and delete all the recordings made by that camera. Meanwhile, you need to make sure no guard enters while I'm inside”

 

Finally, Jose calmed down from his emotional breakdown and nodded in agreement to his son's plan.

 

“Hey wait! What can I do? I want to help too!”

 

“Stay here and clean up any evidence of you and my dad being here… when you finish go to the main house and try to act norm… well, like you usually act” Sebastian ordered, grabbing his father and rushing quickly to the main house “and try not doing anything stupid until then” he added with a warning glare.

 

Charlotte didn't say anything else and just stood there, watching both of them walk away until they were out sight. She didn't know how Sebastian did it, but he, as always, had just managed to ruin her moment AGAIN! Gosh, she could sometimes swear that his hobby, life's mission and superpowers were all ‘make Charlotte feel like shit’

 

“Argh! That stupid Sebastian, he thinks he's so smart! Next time I will shoot an arrow at his big mouth…” she screamed out of frustration, throwing her arms in the air “Sigh…no better not, it would be such a waste, his mouth is too pretty… as well as his hair, so soft and shining all the time…” she added dreamily “but in my opinion his eyes are the best part of his face, especially when he smiles, which is rare… and his long legs that look like they could go by days…” she started drooling a little.

 

 _“Maybe he's right… maybe I should stop practicing archery, and follow my dad’s orders…”_ she pondered the idea for a few seconds in her mind “NO! NO! NO! WHAT I'M THINKING? I REFUSE TO FOLLOW THAT PATH!” she snapped angrily, drawing her bow and shooting an arrow straight to the creepy camera-squirrel's head, piercing it in the middle. “Stupid Sebastian with his stupid sexiness, trying to brainwash me!” she muttered bitterly while shooting another arrow this time into the squirrel's chest “die, die, die! Stupid squirrel-camera and go to hell you too, stupid fat bird-camera” Charlotte yelled hysterically, shooting a third arrow to what she assumed was a fat bird-camera, standing just a little bit below the squirrel.

 

But when she heard a loud “ARGHH” and the sound of something plummeting to the ground, instead of the sound of a camera breaking, she became worried.

 

“Eh…? Wasn't that a security camera? Was it a real bird then? But it was so weird looking!” she panicked and rushed to aid the apparently real bird.

 

She knelt down in front of the feathery body sprawled on the ground. “Please birdy don't die on me” she pleaded almost in the point of tears. She moved the wings carefully in order to inspect the strange bird injuries, hoping it wasn't already dead. “I'm so sorry little fatty bird, I will help you, so be strong, just stay still so I can inspect your little pierced arm…wait? Do birds have arms?” she asked to herself confusedly.

 

Obviously birds didn't have arms, or legs, or a human head…

 

“It looks like a…little child? But it has wings…”she whispered with a worried expression on her face.

 

Yep. The thing she thought was a bird wasn't a bird. Actually, she didn't know what the hell it was; it looked just like a small toddler but with bird wings on his back… Charlotte started hyperventilating and was almost on the brink of suffering a panic attack when…

 

“URGHH….” the winged toddler suddenly reacted and started trying to lift his body into a sitting position “what…what happened?” he said drowsily. Unlike his cute appearance, his voice was very deep and rough sounding, very similar to a truck driver's voice, or like Jose's voice in the mornings.

 

That last thought made Charlotte giggled, distracting her from an oncoming panic attack “Here, let me help you” she offered him gently as she helped him to sit up.

 

“Thank you babe, you are very kin…ARGGHH! What is this?! Why I have a fuck*ng arrow piercing my arm?” the strange creature suddenly yelled in pain.

 

The young lady became nervous again “T- That was kind of my fault… you see… I thought you were a security camera disguised as a really fat bird, so… I accidentally shot an arrow at you…I'm so, so, so sorry I will help you anyway I can”

 

“You dared to shoot at me? And wait…you just called me fat? You little BRAT! You don't know who I'm?”

 

“I- I think I have a slight idea…” she lied.

 

“Imprudent girl… I'M CUPID! THE ALL POWERFULL, ALMIGHTY AND IMMORTAL GOD OF LOVE, ROMANCE AND DESIRE!” the choleric toddler shouted with anger, making his voice sound even deeper than before.

 

Charlotte snorted, she found the little cupid’s reaction extremely funny, but she didn't want to offend the little winged toddler “Ah…I see, t- that's why y-you're w-wearing that diaper like cloth…haha” she put a hand over her mouth to prevent a wild laughing outbursts.

 

“Do you think I'm funny child? That's it! I will curse your mortal soul and you will spend the rest of your days without anyone loving you, forever all alone! Bitter! Single! AND the worst part of it… you will die at a really old age, but you will still being a VIRGIN!” Cupid yelled, throwing a hysteric toddler’s fit.

 

 _“Well, I think somebody needs to take his afternoon nap…”_ Charlotte, who was now trembling trying to contain her laugh, mused in her mind “aww…He looks so cute when he is blabbering angry curses… look at his pink and puffy little cheeks I want to pinch them so bad…tickle, tickle, tickle”

 

“Hey you moron! Are you listening to me?” the adorable but temperamental Cupid asked angrily.

 

Charlotte took a long breath in order to calm herself down, and wiped the few tears that had managed to escape her eyes “Yes… I'm deeply sorry sir” she apologized, trying to sound as serious and collected as possible “might you please allow me to treat your wound?” she requested politely.

 

The toddler turned his head crankily to the side “Hmph, you won't be able to treat my wound child; you are just a lowly human being… I'm an immortal god I'll not die because of this… but… it'll surely make my job more difficult from now on, and for that reason you have to be punish”

 

“Ok! Ok! I'll accept whatever punishment you want to give me. However, can you be so kind and tell me… what is an immortal god like you doing wandering in my garden?”

 

The little god looked a little surprised by her question “hmmm… you are too reckless for your own good child… you are not even scared or begging me for mercy…”

 

“Oh, I'm terrified sir, but this is the way I deal with fear” she lied again, Charlotte found the all-powerful god as intimidating as a gummy bear.

 

Cupid narrowed his eyes at her but looked convinced “well… I will tell you the truth then… I have been coming here from some time now, to see you practice archery with that human slave of yours… I was surprised to see how skillful you're with the bow. Also, I was quite moved by your dedication… since humans invented the stupid fire guns they had forgotten everything about the awesomeness of archery.” The little god confessed sadly.

 

“Thank you! And yes, I understand exactly how you feel… I even have to hide the fact that I practice archery because of my father. He thinks I'm just wasting my time doing it” she sighed “I wish he could learn to appreciate archery the same was as you do” she added with a smile.

 

“What a narrow minded father you have child, I pity you… just a little bit” The little god admitted while looking at his pierced arm.

 

“Again, I'm sorry about your arm. I mistook you for a security camera and, as I said, I cannot let my father find out about this or he will forbid me to do archery forever and fire Jos… punish my human slave with one hundred lashes” Charlotte pleaded, using her best puppy eyes.

 

The little god remained silent for a few seconds, staring deeply into her puppy eyes. Cupid wasn't an evil and unforgiving God. On the contrary, he was a really loving and merciful God. He was the god of love after all.

 

“Sigh… Alright child, I'll take pity of you and forgive your mortal soul… but! you will have to help me with my job until I can use my arm again”

 

“Yes! Thank you so much! Oh immortal god! You are too kind too me! “Charlotte exclaimed happily “and what is your job exactly?” she asked.

 

“You really aren't the smartest apple of the tree, are u child? I already told you that I'm the god of love and desire, and that I'm a fan of archery… That doesn't ring a bell with you?”

 

“My name is Charlotte” she declared abruptly, hoping he could stop calling her child, immortal god or not he still looked like a frigging toddler “and, are you seriously saying that your job is shooting arrows at people to make them fall in love?” she giggled at the absurdity of the idea.

 

“Exactly!” Cupid answered proudly.

 

“Oh…”

 

“That's right child…now have you see my bow anywhere? I think I dropped it somewhere when I fell” Cupid asked, looking around for his bow “Oh! Here it is!” he announced happily “now girl touch it and you'll receive the gift of my magic” Cupid picked up a strange looking archery bow from the ground and offered it to Charlotte. It was a really flashy and sparkly golden colored bow, which made her wonder how she didn't see it before.

 

Charlotte received the little golden bow from the cupid hands carefully. It was really tiny, like the one she used when she was still a child.

 

“Right now pull the string” he ordered.

 

She lifted the tiny bow and stretched the string gently. She felt really silly, but she didn't want to offend the little Cupid...again. She was about to ask him what to do next, when in the blink of an eye, the small bow enlarged itself until it was big enough so someone of her size could shot it comfortably.

 

“Amazing! … Was this magic?...I really have to be dreaming…this cannot be real…maybe Jose's arrow really did hit me after all and now I'm in coma on a hospital bed…or maybe, I'm already dead!” Charlotte whispered to herself almost in the brink of suffering another nervous crisis.

 

“Perfect! Now is time to give you the uniform” the little Cupid, who was completely oblivious of Charlotte's almost catatonic state, snapped his fingers.

 

Suddenly a white and sparkling light covered Charlotte's body completely.

 

“Wha- What is happening? What are you doing now?” she was really freaked out. All her clothes just vanished completely and if it hasn’t been for the light covering her body, she would have been completely naked right then.

 

After a couple of seconds, the strange light faded and her clothes were magically replaced for a white colored, two-pieces outfit: a tight fit crop top with a v neck cut over the chest and back, which showed too much of her chest and stomach for her taste; together with a matching frilly skater skirt, which reached until her mid-thigh; and on her shoulders, two golden metal pads, shaped like multiple metallic feathers, and connected by three delicate golden chains that cascaded all over the naked part of her back.

 

“This is the uniform? Why it has to be such a revealing outfit? “Charlotte protested and was once again distracted from oncoming panic attack.

 

The winged toddle nodded in agreement “Oh you are right, I'm sorry, I forgot about the rest of your outfit” he apologized and snapped his fingers again.

 

The sparkling light came and faded again in less than three seconds, reveling now on her feet a pair of dark brown gladiator style sandals that reached just below her knees; and a braided golden metal hairband on her hair.

 

“This was not what I meant!” she complained again, shaking her fist in a threatening way.

 

“Hmph… just be grateful that I have such a conservative taste in clothes or you could be wearing only underwear right now” Cupid warned “Oh that's right! I almost forgot about your wings” Cupid snapped his fingers for a third time, making little white wings appear on her back.

 

“No! No little wings too! This outfit was embarrassing enough before… even if I have to admit it's kinda cute…” she crossed her arms crankily around her chest, provoking her new wings to wiggle and toss feathers around the grass.

 

“But, without wings how are you supposed to fly and shoot at humans from the sky?” Cupid seemed to be genuinely confused.

 

“I don't think it’s even possible to fly with these wings, they are way too small for my body. It’s anatomically impossible to be lifted by these chicken wings” Charlotte’s face became vivid red. The thought of being seen in public while wearing this outfit made her want to crawl to a hole and disappear “Well, at least nothing is pink and flashy…” she muttered, trying to console herself.

 

“PINK! What a wonderful idea! That's the color of love! Kind of…”  Cupid exclaimed, maybe a little bit too excitedly.

 

Charlotte winced “NO! Don't even think about it...” she tried to warn “and you just made my hair pink…” she announced, with a really resigned voice.

 

“Why are you complaining so much? Did you forget that you are a just a lowly human? I'm giving you the chance to repair me for your offense. Or do you prefer to spend the eternity all alone and die like a single and virgin old woman, in an apartment full of cats?”

 

“Die like a single, virgin, old woman please!” she replied without hesitation, anything was better than this embarrassment. Plus, she was a cat lover.

 

“No way! I had already made my mind child. You will be doing my job until I'm fully recovered. And to punish you for all your insolence, I'll also make your skin turn pink” he declared mischievously. Cupid was having maybe a little too much fun with this.

 

“What! Why!”

 

“Well… Let's see, because you called me fat, laughed at me, complained a lot, and because you SHOT AN F*CKING ARROW AT ME!”

 

The little miss eyes widened _“Holy sh*t!”_ she exclaimed inside her head. She was now starting to regret the gummy bear comparison she made before.

 

“Muawhahah hihihihi” the not-so-cute-right-now Cupid  began laughing demonically “I hope you have a wonderful time doing my job Char-lo-tte… and just in case you are stupid enough to even think about neglecting your new duty… just remember that I looove punishing naughty little girls, Mawhahahah” Cupid flashed a toothy smile full of fangs.

 

The scary toddler finally disappeared while hysterically laughing between clouds of sparkly glitter, leaving a very shocked, pink, and skimpy dressed Charlotte kneeling on the floor.

 

She was holding her new golden bow really tightly against her body, as if holding to her own life; her cheeks were flushed like two big apples, over her new pink colored skin; and her eyes were as wide and glazed as plates “I was just tricked by a toddler…” She barely whispered between deep exhalations.

 

The young lady crouched and started rocking her body back and forth on the ground.

 

 _“And try not doing anything stupid until then”_ was the last thing she remembered before shutting down.

 

She was finally having a panic attack.

 

**Woah! That was a long prologue! Please stay tune for the next chapter! Where we finally meet April, Casey and the turtles! Yeeii!**


	2. Catching the redhead

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so you know, this whole story is illustrated on the TMNT 2012 universe. Okay! Enough blabbering! Enjoy!

It was a lovely Friday night on New York City; rivers of people invaded the avenues, happily strolling around; the city lights blazed from every skyscraper, office block, and department store around, blending harmoniously with the landscape. Perhaps, the reason why so many people still loved New York City, despite of it being plagued with delinquent gangs, constant alien's invasions, rampage mutants, evil ninja organizations, and so much more; was because the city appeared to be constantly alive, working and living, making it seem like everything was possible.

 

 “Enough! I'm exhausted of hearing you two arguing over this!” an extremely piss off redhead yelled into her phone.

 

This particular New Yorker girl was the perfect example of the _'everything is possible'_ statement.

 

“Let me know when you two decide start acting your age again!” She barked closing her odd turtle shaped cellphone.

 

After abruptly ending the call, the blue-eyed ginger, originally called April O'Neil, resumed her path with a bad feeling in her gut and her Tessen firmly clutched in her hand.

 

At first sight, anyone would have believed that April was just a pretty girl with an attitude problem, and they probably would have been right. However, this moody redhead was much more than that.

 

She wasn't your typical 18 years old girl… well, sometimes she was. But, unlike other girls her age, April needed to add to her already busy high school senior schedule, the responsibilities of a half-human, half-alien, occasionally crime fighter, kunoichi-in-training girl.

 

Luckily, the ambitious redhead has always been able to successfully overcome every obstacle life decided to thrown at her. On top of that, she was a straight 'A' student, a kickass fighter, and a dutiful daughter. Although, that didn't mean April would just willingly receive any problem that came her way with a smile, fact which explained a lot her currently awful mood.

 

All this mess started last Friday, when she and Casey were on their way to the turtles' lair…

 

_April has been getting a strange vibe as she walked. It was as if she was being observed. She turned her head and peered through the streets, but she found nothing. So, she just blamed it on being too tired from school, as usual. However, she didn't drop her guard; after all, master Splinter had taught her to be always alert to her surroundings._

 

_They were just a couple of blocks away from the manhole they always used to get into the turtle's lair when, in a split of a second, she felt all her body tensing up and all her senses triggering at once._

_Reacting as fast as she could, she pulled Casey by the arm and jumped to the opposite side of the sidewalk, making both of them collide against the hard pavement._

_“Wow! Red, if a piece of Casey Jones is what you wanted, you only needed to ask babe. There was no need to be so rough… unless, you like it better that way” Casey smirked at their compromising position on top on each other, being completely oblivious of the situation._

_After smacking Casey's head using the best Raphael's style; she got up, straightened herself, and then saw it… just on the spot she had been standing just a couple of seconds before, was now an sparkly golden arrow, laying on the ground and broken in half -probably because of the collision with the concrete- April rapidly looked around, but she didn't see anything or anyone, they were alone…_

 

The second encounter hasn't been as 'subtle' as the first one. This time it hasn't been only one arrow coming at her, but tons on arrows, one after another, raining over her. Reason why, she was now totally sure the first time hasn't been an accident or causality, as she previously thought, someone was really going after her... again.

 

April didn't know who her pursuer was, and which purpose he, she or it had. The only thing she was sure about was that she has had enough of this bullshit! She was tired of being either kidnapped or attacked every time she stepped out of her house, tired of not having control over her own life, and tired of being the constant target of psychotic maniacs.

 

Letting out a sigh, she lifted her sight to the tall buildings surrounding the streets; she knew her mutant friends were up there, watching out for her. And of course, Casey was just a couple of blocks away as well, guarding the streets.

 

After that second and most aggressive attempt, just three nights ago, the turtles decided to set up a plan to stop and capture the mysterious pursuer permanently.

 

The plan consisted on setting a safe perimeter around April, making a square formation abode her with each turtle positioned over a different rooftop in order to cover more ground. Meanwhile, Casey would be monitoring the ground level, and April would be serving as bait in order to lure her attacker.

 

Reason why, they were now connected through an extremely annoying group call, because as Leo said _“an effective group communication, plays a key factor in the development of a successful mission”_ especially on this one, since all of them were working kind of separately.

 

April's train of thought was suddenly interrupted as her t-phone went off in her pocket. She frowned a little at the sight of her phone's screen asking her to either answer or reject the call.

 

While biting her lower lip, she pondered her next course of action; she totally wasn't in the mood to listen another of Casey and Donnie's silly fights _about 'who of them had failed the most to keep her safe; the one who had been together with her during both of the assaults and hadn't been able to catch the culprit, or the one who always boasted about his brilliance but still hadn't been able to find any clue about the culprit's identity'_. Shell, she hated being treated like a weakling, she wasn't a frigging damsel in distress… at least not anymore.

 

Despite her inner conflict, she didn't want to make her friends unnecessarily worried by rejecting the call, so she opted to set aside her stubbornness for once, and take the call.

 

“Hello guys, It's me again…” she sourly greeted.

 

_“April! Thank God! I was so worried! I- I mean! WE! We were so worried…all of us”_ Donnie stammered from his side of the line. That's right, even after two years of knowing and obviously crushing on the redhead; he still hasn't gotten rid of his overly awkward displays of affection. _“Please don't disconnect from us like that again! What if something happens to you while we cannot hear you? What if that psychopath archer decides to strike in that moment?”_

 

_“Yeah Red! You cannot just leave like that! It wasn't cool!”_ Casey agreed from his side of the line. The hockey lover vigilante hasn't changed much over this past two years, except he was a couple of inches taller and bulkier.

 

April rolled her eyes _“great, now they are teaming up against me”_ she thought. “Well, you both made me mad! And I'm already too stressed with the situation as it is guys “

 

_“Don't worry April; I already had a serious talk with them about how they should keep their personal differences out of missions…”_ Leonardo's smooth but commanding voice sounded from his side of the line. Yep, he was still the fearless leader, sometimes nicknamed Splinter Jr. by his dear younger brother, Raphael.

                                                      

_“Thanks Leo”_

 

_“ I also warned them that I would make them swallow their headsets if they didn't shut the hell up, and please don't scream like that into the phone again, I have enough headaches thanks to Mikey's new squeaky voice”_ Raphael's voice growled with palpable irritation. Having to hear the all the voices of their brothers yapping at the same time was really pushing him to the edge.

 

With the exception of April, everyone was using a headset instead of their t-phones to communicate, so they could get a better mobility in case they were suddenly attacked and for concealment purposes as well.

 

“Sorry, Raph…” she apologized sincerely.

_“Hey! My voice is not squeaky… well, that squeaky…”_ Mikey protested. Apparently, the baby of the bunch had finally hit that uncomfortable stage of growing up called puberty, in which your voice starts changing, along with a couple of things more…

 

_“Guys, please concentrate! We don't know when and where or target will show up, so we need to stay alert. Donnie, were you able to find out something more about this individual?”_ Leo asked.

 

_“Not so much actually, I double checked all the security cameras that were around the both places April was assaulted at, but I wasn't able to spot anyone or anything suspicious on the recordings, meaning either this person found a perfect blind spot to hide or is invisible”_

 

_“Wait, how do you guys now it's only one person?”_ April asked.

 

_“Well, I found several finger marks all over the arrows you brought me April. It took me a long time clustering all the small fragments of fingerprints that were over the arrow's shafts together, but after I did, I realized that all of them matched, meaning they belong to the same person. Unfortunately, the complete fingerprint wasn't perfect enough to provide more information about your aggressor “_

 

_“I think it's a girl, dudes!”_

_“Mikey!”_ All of them shouted.

 

_“What!? It makes sense dudes, the arrows were all glittery and sparkly, they must belong to a girl”_ Mikey insisted.

 

Raphael snorted at his younger brother naïvetés _“Not necessarily Mikey. They can also belong to a…”_

 

_“Raph!”_ Leo scolded.

 

_“Oh! Guys, if the attacker ends up being a girl. I think we will be watching soon some nice catfight action!”_ Casey joked.

 

_“To think I have to compete with HIM for April's attention…”_ Donnie muttered to himself.

 

Leo let out a deep sight, sometimes he wondered how the shell have they managed to survive this long _“Guys, regardless of this individual's gender, we still need to intercept and stop whatever he or she is plotting… and by stopping I mean letting the suspect conscious enough so we can find out its motives Raphael…”_

 

_“Yeah, sure fearless leader count on it”_ At this point of the conversation nobody could tell if Raph was being serious or just sarcastic.

 

* * *

 

 

Meanwhile, over the back seat of a luxurious Phantom Roll Royce…

 

_“When's it my turn? Wouldn't I love, love to explore that shore up aboveeee?”_ Charlotte, aka the wacko-psychotic-archer, was singing.

 

_“Out of the sea…”_ Jose, her butler, continued using a surprisingly good soprano's voice.

 

It seemed like, the little lady and her faithful butler, have been stuck to long in the awful city traffic. So, like all people who are bored inside a car do, they were now singing animated movie soundtracks.

 

_“Wish I could be…”_ Charlotte sobbed, with both hands pressed against her chest.

_“Part of that woooorld”_ both of them finished the song with their arms up in the air, as if trying to grasp something invisible abode them.

 

Yep. This is what happens when a preppy teenager and a grow Latino man spent such an unhealthy quantity of time together: they memorize the entire soundtrack of the little mermaid, including the gestures.

 

“Awww… we are getting better at duets Jose” Charlotte admitted, relaxing against the backrest of her seat.

 

“Indeed, Miss Charlotte” Jose nodded from the driver's seat.

 

It's been a whole month since Charlotte's bizarre encounter with Cupid, the all-powerful and totally uncute god of love, and lets juts said that working as his replacement hasn't been as bad as she originally thought it would be…It has been worse.

 

Not even in her wildest dreams, could have she ever imagined that the stupid-sounding-job of shooting arrows at people to make them “fall in love” would turn up to being so demanding.

 

Thankfully, the little miss could always count with her multitasking Brooklyn-raised butler to help her.

 

“Oh! Look at the time Jose” the little lady sounded excited for some reason “it's already past 11pm and I still haven't transformed…” she said while blocking Jose's view with her wrists watch.

 

“Miss Charlotte, I can't see the road.”

 

“We are practically parked anyway” she shrugged “But, don't you think is strange, Jose? Usually by this time I already have changed into Cupid mode… Do you think that maybe, just maybe, he has finally lifted my punish…EEK!”

 

Charlotte was just in the middle of her sentence when, out of the sudden, a white and sparkly light came out of nowhere and enveloped her whole body.

 

“Forget it…” she frowned; as usual her little fluffy wings flapped around and tossed feathers all over her seat.

 

“Really… I wonder if someday I will get used to your sudden changes of appearance, Miss Charlotte. “

 

“I think I will never get used to it myself, Jose” She pouted and started inspecting her new cotton candy colored hair, and pink punch colored skin “How much longer do you think we will be trapped here?”

 

“I'm not sure miss, the traffic it's always bad in this part of the city, especially at this hour” Jose said while tapping his fingers against the car's steering wheel “I don't understand why you keep asking to come to this side of the city Miss Charlotte, we could have gone to a place nearer to home”

 

“Mmmh no reason… I just… like working over this part on the city… I'm able to spot a lot of couples around here and… stuff” she lied, fidgeting nervously on her seat.

 

Jose raised an eyebrow, obviously unconvinced “Don’t tell me you're still looking for that redhead girl?” He asked incredulously.

 

After twelve years of being at her mistress service, he more than anyone knew how creepily obsessive Charlotte could behave sometimes, but for him this jumped the bar of ridiculousness.

 

“Eh? Who are you talking about, Jose?” she pretended ignorance while inspecting her nails.

 

“You know, that redhead girl you tried shooting at last Friday… very pretty, with freckles, always moody, dogged all your shots with the reflex of a cat”

 

Charlotte's body tensed at the mention of her failed shots, missing that many times had really hurt her archer's pride. Of course, she would never admit that aloud.

 

“Tsk…I already got over that girl…” she retorted crankily, crossing her arms over her chest “I have better things to worry about, you know? Humph… still chasing after a random girl… that's crazy! Ha ha ha” she laughed robotically while averting her eyes from Jose's judging ones.

 

“You have spent a whole week persecuting that poor girl; it's obvious that she doesn't need anything from you. Just move on, and find someone else who genuinely requires your help.”

 

“But Jose! I already bumped two times with her! And by almost total coincidence! You know how difficult is to bump two times with the same person in such a big city?! It must be destiny! MY DESTINY! I- I mean! Her destiny to be shot”

 

Jose just sighed and shook his head in disbelief. Out of all his little mistress' odd and pointless hobbies, this new cupid job of hers was, without a doubt, the worst of them all.

 

After knowing she wasn't going to get Jose's approval about this, Charlotte let out a frustrated groan. It was just too hard to explain, even to her super comprehensive butler, how much hitting that slippery redhead meant to her.

 

“Hey Jose… Can I ask you something?”

 

“Of course Miss Charlotte” he replied calmly, in spite of being a little bit startled by the sudden serious tone of his mistress.

 

“Have you ever been in love? But I mean for REAL! I'm talking about real love! Like the one you seen on movies and read about in books, everlasting, passionate an irrational”

 

“hahaha, of course I have been in love before Miss Charlotte. It wasn't everlasting, but it has been the realest kind of love I had ever felt”

 

“Tell me about it!” she urged excitedly, and for a minute Jose could have swear he saw stars coming out of her eyes.

 

“Well, I meet her in one of my cousin's a parties. I remember thinking _'Oh my God! This is the most beautiful girl I have ever seen'_ the first time she crossed in front of me” his expression turned blissful as he narrated.

 

“And that was it? That sounds kind of shallow, don't you think?”

 

“Of course her appearance was the first thing that made me like her, but as I always said _'Beauty attracts the eye, but personality captures the heart'_ and she truly has been the most amazing girl I had ever met; she was kind, smart, funny, and charmingly stubborn.”

 

“Wow… that sounds amazing” she gasped in awe, the sparklers returning to her eyes.

 

“Yes, Carolina was really one of a kind…” Jose said dreamily.

 

“Carolina…” She repeated, trying to picture in her mind the woman that had stolen the heart of her butler; but then a heavy realization hit her “HEY! Wait a minute… wasn't **Angela** your ex-wife's name?

 

“ ha ha ha! Did you think I was talking about Angela? Sebastian's mother?” he laughed as if such statement was the most hilarious and absurdist thing in the world. “Of course I wasn't talking about her.”

 

Charlotte's mouth felt half open “B-But! You married her! And you even had a child with her! Why isn't she the love of your life?”

 

“Oh Miss Charlotte, I was too young and naive at that time… as well as stupid enough to have unprotected intercourse, that's why I married her.”

 

That sentence fell upon Charlotte as cold as an ice bucket challenge “I cannot believe it! So what happened with Carolina? Why didn't you marry her?”

 

“Umhh… I don't think it's wise to keep this conversation going, why don't we listen to what's on the radio? I wish to hear the traffic report” Her butler suddenly suggested, turning on the radio.

 

“Don't dare to try changing the subject!”

 

“You are too young to talk about these topics; we can talk about this again maybe in about… 20 years for now”

 

“I knew it! True love doesn't exist! It's only a mass media's invention to make people act like imbeciles!” She whined while hitting her head against her seat's window.

 

“Geez Miss Charlotte, you are only 17 years old, you cannot think so cynically, especially if you want to find a nice boyfriend.”

 

“Argh” She growled, after such a heartbreaking story that was the last thing she wanted to hear.

 

“Oh! come on, Miss Charlotte, cheer up a little bit “ he coed in an attempt to console his very distressed mistress, as well because Charlotte's frustrated expressions were only funny until a certain point. “Love can come in many shapes; romance is only one of them. And you know what else? Even though I think of my ex-wife as the helper of the anti- Christ, I still feel love for her in some sort of way; after all, she gave me my most precious treasure, my son Sebastian”

 

Charlotte opened her mouth ready to make an extremely sassy and smart retort. However, because the topic of Sebastian was suddenly brought to the table, the only sentence she could managed to come with was “It’s true… Sebastian's amazing” she babbled, totally forgetting about her previous existentialist crisis “When is he coming back from Japan? I thought it was supposed to be only a short business trip, but it's been three weeks already. My dad is exploiting him, exploiting him I tell you!”

 

“I'm not sure miss, but the last time we skyped he sounded very excited about a new project they were working on over there, it seems like your father has really taken him under his wing, and you know how much he admires and respects your father”

 

“Aww… I think you are thousands of times better than my father Jose… even if you are a shameless womanizer” the little miss said sweetly.

 

“Oh Miss Charlotte, forget about Carolina, you are my one true love”

 

“Gezzz, you old flirt!”

 

“hahahaha, Miss Charlotte what about stopping for some ice cream after you finish your work, I know about a nice 24 hours ice cream parlor that serves a really good gluten free ice cream…”Jose asked cheerfully, lowering the volume of the radio “Miss?” he repeated after not hearing any answer from little mistress “MISS CHARLOTTE…!” he yelled after turning his head and not seeing the young lady on the backseat.

 

Unfastening his seat belt in less than a second, Jose jumped out of the car.

 

“MISS CHARLOTTE!?” he screamed between the loud sounds of honks coming from the cars trapped in the traffic, and the strident sound of the multitude, crossing the street and walking between the cars.

 

There wasn't any sign of Charlotte.

 

“MIERDA” he kicked his car tire. He didn't know when or how she did it, but Charlotte had just ran away alone…AGAIN!


	3. Old creeper

After two hours of walking aimlessly around the city; April, the turtles and Casey were starting to feel really frustrated by the lack of action; and in Mikey's particular case, ravenous by the lack of food on this mission.

 

They were still communicating through the connected line, and as much to Leo’s displeasure, they were still talking unnecessarily and getting distracted on it.

 

“Guys… I'm not so sure about this plan anymore. We have been doing this for three consecutive nights already, and we still haven't found out anything. Maybe, whoever was after me already gave up… and went to sleep” April yawned into her t-phone, obviously exhausted after such a long and pointless quest.

 

“We can't quit now April” Donnie tried reasoning. He was situated over a rooftop that gave him a perfect sight of April's dreamy profile, when using his magnifying goggles “What if that psycho archer decides to strike again as soon as we leave you alone?”

 

“But Donnie, I wasn't alone neither of the two times the psycho archer appeared, I was with Casey, and that didn't seem to matter whatever he decided to shot at me or not.”

 

“I see” Donnie let out sounding more irritated than he intended “Well, maybe this time will be different, because you are with someone who can actually put up a fight”

 

“Hey! Casey Jones can put up a fight against anyone or anything! Just name it!”  The offended one protested.

 

“Mmmh… Let's see, what about…? Trigonometry!”

 

The freckled girl slowly dragged her hand against her face “Damn me, and my big mouth!” she lamented in her head.

 

“Will you two please shut the fuck up!? You are going to make April become mad again!” Raphael's headache kept growing by the minute and there wasn’t anything he feared more at that moment that another of April's high pitched yells into the phone.

 

April took a deep and long breath. She needed to calm herself down before saying anything else, and, more importantly, she needed to calm herself down to not give Raph the pleasure of being right. “Guys, I know you are all worried about me” she said slowly “but, I can manage myself just fine; after all, I dogged all those arrows easily”

 

“We can't risk taking that chance April; you aren't a full trained kunoichi yet. It's too dangerous” Even when it wasn't Leo's intention, his words were sometimes a little bit too blunt. Plus, he really doesn’t know how to speak to girls.

 

“Are you saying I'm defenseless by myself, Leo?”

 

Leo swallowed hard “All I'm saying, is that our top priority right now is stopping this person permanently. This is not only for your own safety April, but for the safety of all the other citizens as well. We can't let such a dangerous individual roaming freely on the streets. **That** is our real mission guys.”

 

“Cute speech fearless, now tell us how many hours we would need to keep waiting for that archer?” his temperamental brother in red intervened.

 

“As many as necessary, Raph”

 

That made him growl “Damn! The only thing I'm sure about is, when I finally find that frigging stalker, I'm going to do more to him than finding out his motives for making me going through this hell!” by the murderous tone of Raph's voice and the sound of his knuckles cracking, everyone could tell he was already starting to lose it.

 

“Why are you all so sure it's a dude?” interrupted Mikey's booming voice “It could be a hot archer girl like the one from the hunger games… and speaking about hunger…”

 

“Shut up, Mikey!” everyone yelled.

 

“Alright guys, can't we call it a night already? Is obvious we are all tired, and I have a big fat pile of school work waiting for me at home” April suggested, fearing about having to pull an all-nighter today as well.

 

Donatello let out a deflated sigh “I'm sorry April, I know we are interfering with your academic activities, but we can only keep you safe at night…” he felt really mortified for interfering with April's school work… but like…really mortified.

 

“Donnie…” even if April wasn't able to see his sad turtle face, she could perfectly picture it in her head “it's alright! I can stay for a few more hours, it's not like I need to finish everything by today…” she couldn't deny anything to Donnie when he played the _'I'm sorry, I'm a mutant and I have my limitations'_ card.

 

“Hmp…” Of course Casey was aware of Donnie's influence on April “don’t worry red, If we don't find anything tonight, I promise to keep a close eye on you all the time, day and night” he teased. Casey Jones wasn't a benchwarmer after all.

 

“Casey…” April was about to scold him when “Guys! Wait a minute… I'm starting to feel something!”

 

“You need to use the ladies room April?” Mikey asked, being as considerate as always.

 

“No Mikey! It's not that kind of feeling!” She replied embarrassedly “I'm getting the same strange vibe I felt the two other times I was attacked”

 

Raphael almost smiled after hearing that…almost “Great! It was time for this dude to show up”

 

“Everyone, quiet!  I'm seeing a suspicious person approaching April's direction” Leo warned “Mikey, I think is closer to your perimeter”

 

“Oh yeah! I can see him, he looks… Mexican?”

 

“Mikey, it could be considered racist to just assume he's Mexican because of how he looks like. It's better to say he looks Latino or Hispanic, even though those terms aren't so politically accepted either” Donnie rambled unnecessarily, and nobody needed to see him to know he had his index finger up.

 

“Well… I just kind of guessed it, because he's wearing a t-shirt that says _Viva Mexico_ under his jacket”

 

“Oh… then maybe you are right…”

 

“Guys stop joking; we need to stay focused… He's just ten feet away from April and advancing… April, just keep walking as normally as you can, but be alert of any sudden movement. Everyone else, get ready in case we need to interfere” Leo ordered.

 

* * *

 

 

Without a second thought, Jose Martinez had maniacally chased after his reckless mistress. Obviously not caring about the awfully expensive Roll Royce he just abandoned in the middle of the street. Call him overly paranoid if you want, but only God knew what could happen if he let his little miss wander alone in such a dangerous city at night.

 

Thankfully, this butler knew his mistress tactics as good as he knew all of Cristina's catch phrases, and preventing a situation like this eventually happening, he had previously implanted several trackers all over Charlotte's belongings, including her bow and quiver.

 

“Hey, Jose! Over here!” someone murmured.

 

“Miss!” he felt a wave of relieve wash over him after finally spotting Charlotte, suspiciously crouching behind a dumpster “Gosh, Miss Charlotte! How could you just run away like that?! You could have been hit by a car or someth- ACK!” he yelled in surprise when he was suddenly pulled down behind the dumpster.

 

 _“Shh!”_ Charlotte shushed while covering Jose's mouth with her hand _“Jose, be quiet! Look who's over there!”_ she jerked her head towards the direction of her target.

 

The really confused butler doubted for a minute, but he was already used to this kind of things from Charlotte, so he just went with it and peered through the stinky dumpster.

 

Jose's eyes widened and his whole face went blank after realizing the reason why Charlotte had fled away from the car and almost caused him a heart attack “I knew it! I knew you were still following the redhead girl…” he accused while seeing the object of his little mistress current fixation defenselessly wandering on a desolate street “really, why is such a young girl walking alone on such dark and empty street? Tsk, children these days…” he sighed.

 

“Because she's not alone Jose, this is obviously a setup. She's waiting for me to show up” She revealed with a voice no lower than a murmur.

 

“What! H- How!”

 

“Shh! Jose! lower your voice” She scolded him “Just behind us, maybe ten feet away from us, someone is watching us… well… technically just watching you. I'm sure is the same boy that's always with her. However, I don't know why today he's is wearing some kind of… costume? “

 

“The toothless boy…? How you are so sure is him?”

 

“Well, I just assumed it was him, because he seems to share a lot of physical similarities with the toothless boy, like the color of his hair, his height and body contexture…”

 

Jose was little bit taken aback by Charlotte's unusual sharpness.

 

“And because he's always talking in third person, and repeating his full name all the time… “

 

“Oh...” Now, Jose understood.

 

“I mean, seriously, what's the point of wearing a mask if he will be saying his full name all the time?”

 

“Yes, that's a really contradictory fact”

 

“It's as pointless as sailor moon’s diadem…”

 

“Indeed…”

 

Charlotte shook her head to put her thoughts in order again “Well, the point is that he must be thinking that you are me, I mean, that you are the one who has been stalking and shooting arrows at the redhead… and, I also noticed he has come heavily armed this time.”

 

“What!? That's it! We are going home now, Miss Charlotte! I will not let you get involved with gang thugs” Jose thought that anybody with a weapon was a gang thug.

 

The young miss pouted; her butler always tended to overreact anytime something related to gangs came up “be calm! I have a plan, okay? First, I will go and climb up to the rooftop of this building by the fire escape staircase to get a better aim” she patted the concrete wall beside her “Meanwhile, you will approach the redhead with any excuse you can think off in order to lure the toothless boy closer to her “

 

“What! You want to use me as bait! That's crazy!”

 

Charlotte frowned at her butler uncooperativeness “Jose! You more than anyone know I can't shoot at her if she's alone, she needs to have someone near or it will be pointless, and I don't think you want to be the one she gets infatuated with, do you?” she made a disgusted face and looked him up and down.

 

“Oh Gosh!  Miss Charlotte, she's just a child! Of course not! What are you-!”

 

“That’s why I need you to drive the boy near her!” she started whining “I would have done it myself but… I don't want to get smacked in the head with a hockey stick” she confessed after not being able to come up with a better excuse.

 

Jose stared at her with disbelief. Even though he was a bit glad to discover that maybe Charlotte really did have self-preservation instincts after all, he couldn't help but feel that this whole situation would end up getting more complicated than a few smacks in the head. Yet, after seeing Charlotte's big hazel eyes sparkling at him, filled with hope and anticipation, he knew that he had already lost this battle.

 

“Alright…but I have one condition!” So, like and old dog that can't learn new tricks he tried negotiating with her.

 

“What is it?”

 

“You cannot let that punk hit me. Not even once…”

 

“…”

 

“…”

 

“Deal”

 

* * *

 

 

 _“Guys, he's watching me behind a dumpster …I can feel him”_ a really creeped out April whispered into her phone. She didn't have any problems fighting against lethal robots, evil aliens, or even sadistic ninjas, but lecherous perverts were her ultimate weakness.

 

“Don't worry Red! I will go and give him a piece of my mind! Casey Jones’ style! Nobody stalks my girlfriend and gets away with it”

 

“She is NOT your girlfriend!” Donnie remarked.

 

“Casey! Remain calm! He hasn't done anything yet, and he doesn't have any visible weapons on him, so there is still a chance he's not the person we are looking for”

 

“Are you for real Leo?!” Raph intervened “Look at him! He's obviously a sick pedophile! He's sizing April up behind a dumpster”

 

“Well, technically, April is already 18 years old, so he wouldn't be considered a pedophile, just a common molester” Donnie tried explaining to his irate brother.

 

“Shut up smart ass, is your girlfriend he's stalking at”

 

“She's not my…”

 

“Damn…!” Mikey's abruptly interrupted “I was really hoping it would turn out being a cute dudette” the disappointment of his voice was palpable.

 

“Guys, silent” Leo ordered “the suspect has already started moving! Everyone, be ready to jump as soon as he I give the order.”

 

 

Meanwhile down in the streets, a really misunderstood Jose marched his path towards a sure beat down.

 

“Excuse me, Miss” he called out “I'm sorry to bother you, but I'm new in this neighborhood, and I'm afraid I'm a little loss, would you be so kind and help me find this address?”

 

April gingerly turned around to meet what she believed was a psycho old creeper “Yeah… sure” she nodded while taking a small step back and forcing an awkward smile “what is the address?”

 

Jose took a few seconds to realize he wasn't come out with a fake address to ask.

 

“Sir? Are you okay?”

 

“Oh yeah, yeah… sorry… my ingles no ser muy bueno” Jose was using the oldest trick in the world: The lost tourist that doesn't speak English muy bueno (My English is not very good)

 

“Really? It's weird because I just heard you speaking it really fluently a second ago” April looked at him suspiciously; she obviously wasn't going to fall in that trap.

 

“Ehh… practicar mucho?” Jose started darting his eyes nervously from building to building. He was the worst liar in the world and, according to Charlotte's plan, it wouldn't take long for the toothless boy to appear and accuse him of being a creep.

 

April crossed her arms crankily and narrowed her eyes at him “Sir, what is the address?”

 

“ Si, Si… the address” he started fidgeting “ the address is 54, tatum channing street” anyone would have believed that after living all his life in NY Jose would be able to come up with a more believable fake address’ name. Obviously, no one knew him like Charlotte.

 

“Did you just said channing tatum street?”

 

“tatum channing” he corrected.

 

“THAT'S IT! HEY! You stay away from my friend!” Casey came out as fast as a bullet and pointed his bat at Jose.

 

“Que?” at least Jose was still into character. (What?)

 

“Ok! That's it old pervert! Stop chasing after young girls! Or I'll have to beat you up, old creep” Casey was really piss off, even if this guy wasn't the one chasing April, he was definitely suspicious.

 

“Wait you just called me old? What's wrong with you punk? A really pissed off Jose yelled while taking out his deep Brooklyn accent, he really hated being called old.

 

“What di-” a loud THUMP interrupted Casey's trash talk.

 

April's big blue eyes widened “GUYS! An arrow just landed on Casey's headset! He's here!” April shouted into her t-phone “GYAAA more are coming!”

 

Raph's head finished to explode thanks to April's yelling “Ok, I'm done with this sh*t! I'm going down to help!” he immediately jumped down to the action, but not before unnecessarily destroying his headset.

 

Of course, Leo hasn't agreed to such decision “Wait Raphael! You cannot expose yourself this way! RAPH…? RAPH? Damn it!”

 

On the other hand, Donnie was more worried about April and the possibility of her being hit than anything else “April! You are the target! Get away from there! I will track him, but I need him to keep shooting! So, you just run from there!”

 

“Alright… EEK! I can barely move, the arrows just keep coming” loud clashing noises sounded in the background as April used her Tessen to block the arrows “and Raph and Casey began fighting with the old guy!” April's frantic voice reported.

 

“Wow! That dude is giving them quite a fight! Go on! Old Mexican dude”

 

“Mikey! stop cheering the enemy” Leo reprimanded. However, he wouldn't mind if the old man decided to smack Raphael's head just a little.

 

“Alright guys, according to the trajectory of those arrows, the culprit should be just 300 feet apart from Mikey, which means just two rooftops away. I just sent you the coordinates.”

 

“I'm on it!”

 

“Mikey, intercept it! I'm heading there, Donnie you go and stop Casey and Raph from hurting that old man”

 

“Dudes! I’m seeing a suspicious figure! It has wings! I think it's like a giant mutant bird!” Mikey said while running at mad speed.

 

“It is a mutant?” Donnie didn't sound convinced “that's strange; the fingerprints definitely belonged to a human… Mikey, are you sure you have the right buldi…”

 

Before Donnie could even finish his sentence, the sound of Mikey's kusarigama being circled in the wind was heard on the line “Booyakasaha! I got you giant mutant bird!”

 

 _“Argghhh”_ a feminine scream was heard from Mikey's side on the line.

 

“Oh… Guys, false alarm! It's not a mutant. You aren't a mutant, are you?”

 

 _“No! I'm NOT”_ the voice of an annoyed girl confirmed.

 

Both Donnie and Leo face palmed themselves, not only has his little brother gotten the wrong person, but he has also exposed himself in front of a human.

 

“No, she's not a mutant bros, is just a girl wearing bird a costume! Sorry miss!”

 

_“It's not a bird costume!”_

However, they suddenly got the feeling something wasn’t quite right with this girl…

 

“Here, you dropped your bow”

 

 _“Oh! Thanks! You are so kind”_  and that was it.

“MIKEY! “ Donnie hurried to warn “THAT'S THE PERSON WHO'S SHOOTING! DON'T LET HER GET AWAY…” he waited for his younger brother’s answer, but there was only silence “Mikey…are you still there? LEO THE BIRD GIRL HAS MIKEY!” He panicked.

 

“Donnie! You need to calm down; I'm on my way to help Mikey! You just go and keep April safe from more arrows!”

 

“Alright, Leo! April, Mikey just saw the one who's trying to shoot you, but we lost communication. Where are you now?”

 

“Guys, the arrows stopped for a second, I'm hiding behind a dumpster, and Raph, Casey and the old man are still fighting” April said between short breaths.

 

A little bit of static interrupted the conversation “for all sewers Mikey! What are you doing? Let that civilian go… MIKEY!” Leonardo panicked voice shouted.

 

“Leo? What's wrong? What happened with Mikey?... Leo…? Leo…! APRIL WE LOST COMUNICATION WITH LEO!”

 

“Donnie calm down! I will run down to…”

 

The sound of someone poking the headset's microphone cut April's sentence _“Hello?”_ an unknown girl's voice asked _“It's this thing on?”_

 

“April… I think someone picked up Mikey's headset” Donnie whispered as if that would stop the other person from hearing it.

 

“Who are you? “ April asked, even thought she was sure she already knew the answer.

 

 _“Redhead! Is that you? We finally meet again!”_ the girl exclaimed in a really happy and friendly manner as if she was just one of April's old friends instead of a creepy stalker _“Now, tell your freak friends to stop beating up Jose or else…”_ okay, now she wasn't sounding so friendly.

 

“Or else what” April challenged. Too bad Casey was missing the cat fight.

 

_“This!”_

 

“Kyaaaaa! Donnie! An arrow just hit Casey's arm!

 

“Don't worry April! I already know where she is hiding! You just run away from there and find somewhere to hide”

 

* * *

 

 

April started running down the street like a mad woman; she wanted to get that crazy girl as far from her friends as possible, before anyone else resulted injured, and she knew the bird girl would follow her.

 

After running for five entire blocks, she turned right in an alley and took out her Tessen, she wasn't going to run away anymore, she was determined to finish this tonight!

 

“Okay bird girl! Do you want me? Come and get me!” she yelled to none one in particular, just to let out some steam, and then waited…it was quiet… too quiet.

 

After a couple of minutes of complete silence, April started hearing really loud breathing sounds coming closer and closer. The short breath intakes were quick and sounded painful, like if someone was being choked to death.

 

Then she started seeing a shadow approaching to the exit of the alley, slowly…really slowly. Until the small figure of a girl breathing for her life came into view. She was panting violently as if she had just finished running the New York marathon or something.

 

The pitiful sight made April raise a brow in confusion and put down her guard a little. This couldn't be the person who had made her became worried and stressed for an entire week, as well as the reason she has been neglecting school work and sacrificing precious hours of sleep. This couldn't be the psycho-archer-stalker? Could be?

 

“O- Ok Miss re- redhead” The petite girl finally spoke, she seemed just like a normal girl wearing a skimpy costume, except for the strange hair and skin color, but that could be also part of her getup, given that Casey liked using makeup as well “I- I need to ad- admit y-ou have been an out-standing opponent, but we need to end this to-night.” The pink haired girl stammered between short inhalations.

 

April just stared at her in confusion; she was just about to ask the strange girl if she was lost or something, when she noticed the large golden arrow she was holding and the quiver full of sparkling golden arrows hanging in her back.

 

Furrowing her eyes, the aspiring kunoichi remembered the wise words of her sensei about never underestimating the enemy and how she needed to proceeded cautiously no matter the circumstances. And that what she did, she proceeded cautiously… and threw her sharp as a knife deadly Tessen like a killer boomerang at Charlotte's head.

 

“EEK!” the young miss yelped, dogging the killer Tessen thanks to pure luck and to an old abandoned couch that served her as shield “Are you crazy!? What the hell is wrong with-”

 

“YOU!” April caught her returning weapon on midair and pointed it at Charlotte “What did you do to my friends!?”

 

Still sprawled behind the old and smelly couch, Charlotte seized the opportunity and carefully took three arrows out of her quiver. She knocked one of them on her bow and placed the other two between her knuckles; then, she came out from behind the tattered couch “Now, redhead, please calm down, this will be quick and painless for you, but really satisfying for me. It's practically a win-win. So just stay still” she said while pointing at April.

 

“Just try shooting one more of those frigging arrows! And I'm going to make you sallow all of them one by one” April threatened, using Raphael's threatening talk lesson 101.

 

Charlotte rolled her eyes; this situation was getting too dramatic for her taste. It almost made it lose all the fun…almost.

 

If wasn't as if Charlotte had a death wish or anything like that. It was just that when she decided to do something, she tended to carry it out no matter the consequences. Yes, she was persistent like that… not to mention stupid.

 

The dilemma for the young miss now was the lack of another person. As everyone should have already guessed by now, Charlotte arrows made the person who was hit by them instantly fall in love with the nearest person. So, without anybody near but her and the redhead, shooting her would be just pointless and even dangerous _“Wait a minute! If the redhead is able to see me now… does that mean she can fall in love with me?”_ That was a mind blowing question for Charlotte, she wasn't sure if she wanted such a long term commitment, much less with another girl. Even though, she needed to admit they would make a really attractive couple.

 

_“Uhhhh… What do I do now… she will blow my head with that granny fan if I don't do something… think Charlotte, THINK!”_

 

“Stay away from April you crazy bird girl!” someone suddenly yelled from above.

 

“Donnie!” April gasped.

 

The genius turtle descended skillfully through the fire escape stairs and landed right in between April and Charlotte's catfight.

 

“B- Bird girl!?” Charlotte repeated as she self-consciously pinched her nose bridge. Apparently, she was more worried wondering if she really looked like a bird than defending herself against the giant turtle that was pointing her with a stick. But, after all, the young lady's mind was like a one-command machine that was only able to process one thing at a time. Yet, that didn't explained why her brain always decided to end up focusing on the wrong thing “that's it! Fuck it! I will shoot both of you! I don't care anymore” Charlotte lifted her bow again and drew it at the two of them. However, she soon realized that not only the arrow she had already knocked in her bow was gone, but also the other two she had on her knuckles, as well as her entire quiver.

 

“Where you looking for this?” Donnie teased cockily, holding her quiver full of arrows. He obviously didn't know he had just ruined a one in a lifetime opportunity.

 

“W-what? How?! When?! Thief!” She accused with her already pink punch colored skin turning a darker shade of color.

 

“Look who's talking, STALKER!” Donatello retorted.

 

“Donnie! You are the best!” April exclaimed, capturing him in a hug.

 

“Heee… you are welcome” he giggled, blushing like an idiot.

 

“Are you alright? Where are the others?” April asked, breaking the hug.

 

“I'm fine, but I don't know about the others, we lost communication after we found the bird girl”

 

“Stop calling me bird girl!” Charlotte snarled, pressing her hands into fist.

 

“Who are you? And why were you stalking April?” Donatello frowned and pointed his bo staff at the suspicious girl.

 

“Donnie, I'm the one she's after, I'm the one who needs to ask the questions here” April interrupted and placed herself in front of him “who are you? And why were you stalking me?”

 

The little miss blinked at the question. Nobody has ever asked her that before. Everybody just seemed to already know who she was anywhere she went. That question was new for her; it was refreshing in some kind of way. _Who was her?_ She wondered

 

Charlotte couldn't help but smile before answering “I'm Cupid”

 

**To be continued...**


	4. Irresponsible Cupid

“Sooo, is Cupid like… your real name? Or some kind of nickname?” April seemed annoyed, and a little bit confused… but mostly annoyed.

 

The smile on Charlotte's face disappeared as soon as she realized the idiotic thing she had just said. She got too carried away in the moment and ended up revealing too much information.

 

 “Cupid it's not a name, it's what I do…” she hurried to add.

 

April crossed her arms crankily “and what is exactly what you do?”

 

“Ehmm… It's really hard to explain…” _and embarrassing too._ Feeling ashamed, Charlotte lowered her sight and started fidgeting with her bow.

 

“Listen, you have been attacking me with your silly, glittery arrows for an entire week. So, you either tell me what you did that, or I will make you” This more-aggressive-than-usual April, was the result of a sleep deprived week and a lot of piled up school work.

 

“Hey! I painted and glittered each of those arrows with my own hands, so they could match with this!” she lifted her golden and super sparkly magical bow that could even be seen from three blocks away “don't call them silly! They take a lot of work to make” now, the little miss was offended “plus, if you just had left yourself being hit in the first place, things wouldn't have escalated this much” and she was caving her own grave.

 

The redhead laughed incredulously “wait a minute… Are you saying it's now my fault because I didn't let myself get shot by some lunatic girl?”

 

The young miss gasped after hearing such words “I- I-am not a… I- am not a… YOU ARE MEAN!”

 

Both girls narrowed their eyes at each other.

 

A little bit overwhelmed by the catfight developing in front of him, Donnie cleared his throat in order to break the sudden tension “Alright…” he awkwardly darted his eyes between both girls “that aside, you still need to tell us why… HEY! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?”

 

“Keep the arrows if you want! I'm going home” Charlotte announced as she walked away from the alley. The little miss wasn't used to deal with confrontations. They made her become agitated, and she hated feeling agitated. Jose was the one in charge to handle these kinds of situations for her, and with _handle_ I mean he used a teaser against anyone who dared to talk back to his mistress.

 

April took in a deep breath and went after her “Not so fast! You will not walk out of here without giving us some clear answers” the exasperation on her voice was palpable.

 

Charlotte turned around with her eyes a little bit glossy “I don't want to! Leave me alon-SMACK-eeeww!” her little tantrum was abruptly interrupted when she suddenly collapsed over the ground with a loud TUMPH.

 

After knocking Charlotte down with the back of his Sai, Raphael twirled it on his hand and tucked it on his belt again.

 

“Raph!” both Donnie and April shouted at the same time.

 

“Sup…” he greeted nonchalantly as if he hadn’t just knocked out a person “Please, don’t tell me this person is the one we have been searching for all this time” he glowered at the unconscious girl sprawled on the ground.

 

Donnie and April just nodded with astonished expressions.

 

“Casey!” April gasped when she noticed Casey's pass out form hanging onto Raph's shell “what happened to him?” she rapidly ran to aid his friend.

 

Raph rolled his eyes “He got hit by an arrow”

 

She let out another gasp as soon as she took Casey's cracked mask off. The black paint on his face was all washed out because of the blows he had received, his left eye was really swollen up and his upper lip had a really nasty cut over it “there's no way an arrow could have caused all this” she said, pointing out all of the bruises and cuts “don't tell me that old man caused this…” she quirked a brow.

 

“No, it wasn't the old man” Raph answered while unceremoniously dropping Casey's body against one of the alley's wall.

 

“Then what happened?” April insisted, kneeling in front Casey.

 

“Well… ehmmm” Raphael scratched the back of his head, thinking about the most tactful way to tell them what had happened “after the arrow hit him, he started acting…weird, so knocked him down to normalize him” he crossed his arms defensibly over his plastron.

 

“What do you mean by weird?” As far as Donatello was concerned, Casey always acted weirdly.

 

“And beating him up like this was really necessary?” April clearly wasn't happy.

 

“April, calm down. He's just unconscious” Donnie said as he kneeled beside her “ Mmmhp…he only has some minor bruises. I'll patch him up as soon as we get to the lair and he will be fine” he showed her a reassuring smile.

 

Despite Donnie's comforting words, the redhead didn't tore away her worried eyes from Casey's beat up body.

 

Raph sighed and gave a sympathetic pat to his brother's shoulder “Hey Donnie, help me tie up the psycho before she wakes up” he jerked his thumb over his shoulder towards the other passed out person on the floor.

 

Both of them walked until Charlotte's immobile body and sat her against a wall. Raphael took out a rope from his gear and started tying up her wrist together. Donatello did the same but with her ankles.

 

After making sure April wasn't paying any attention to them, Raph whispered _“So Donnie, is Casey really okay?”_ He directed his gleaming green orbs at his genius brother.

 

Donatello gave a quick glance to April's direction before _answering “Raph, what happened out there? Casey is really beat up”_ he half whispered/grunted to his brother. He really hated lying to April, but in that moment, he did it in order to avoid another confrontation.

 

 _“I really don't want to talk about it…”_ The red banded brother lowered his eyes again to concentrate on the knot he was making around Charlotte's wrist.

 

 _“You will have to tell us sooner or later you know that, right?”_ Donnie said as he applied pressure to a sailor knot he made to hold her ankles together.

 

Because of the sudden discomfort, the young miss started stirring her body “Mhmm, don't touch me perverts, I'm not into bondage” she mumbled, still unconscious.

 

Raphael arched a brow “I think she must have some mental issues…”

 

“She's a strange one indeed” Donnie picked up the sparkly bow from the pavement and began inspecting it. It just seemed like a regular overly decorated bow to him “Maybe she's just another eccentric teen with too much spare time… like Timothy” he gave half a shrug. If that resulted to be true then it would mean they could resolve all this mess much faster. However, there were many things they needed to address first.

 

“Hey guys! It's everybody okay?”

 

“Leo!” they all shouted as soon as they spotted their leader in blue, carrying an unconscious Michelangelo over his shell.

 

“What happened to Mikey? “ Raph asked.

 

Leo contorted his face as he remembered what had happened “Well… when I found him he was behaving… weirdly. So knocked him down to…”

 

“Ugghh… my head is killing me…” Leonardo's anecdote was interrupted by a little miss, who was starting to wake up “Jose, bring me some pain killers…” she slowly began opening her eyes “Jose, why does my room smells like garbage?” after finally adjusting her sight, she blinked at the odd audience in front of her “Oh… shit. Why I'm tied?”

 

“This is the person who was after you April? She certainly doesn't look… dangerous” Leo looked really unconvinced

 

“Is because you haven't had the pleasure of talking to her” April huffed.

 

“What did you guys find out?” Leo asked, placing his little brother gently beside Casey.

 

“Nothing much, Raph knocked her out before she could tell us anything” April said while throwing daggers at Raph with her eyes. She obviously wasn't over the Casey's beat down issue.

 

“Raph!” Leo turned around to scold his overly temperamental brother.

 

Raphael sent April a threatening glare, but she just stuck out her tongue at him “why are you looking at me like that, Leo? She was running away! Someone needed to stop her!” he lifted his arms defensibly.

 

“We'll talk about this later” Leo sent one last scolding glance at his hotheaded brother, and walked over to Charlotte “Hello Miss, my name is Leonardo” he bended over to face her.

 

The pink haired girl recoiled against the wall behind her with eyes as wide as plates “Hi…” she answered sheepishly. For some reason Leo intimidated her much more than Raph, even when the last one had mercilessly knocked her down to the hard cold floor.

 

On the other hand, not provoking screams of terror and hyperventilation was already a victory for Leo, so he felt satisfied “Can you explain to us, why you are after April? “ he asked calmly.

 

“April…? Who's that?” she seemed genuinely confused.

 

“That one over here” Raphael jerked his head dismissively towards April.

 

“That...?” April frowned.

 

“No, she's not…” Charlotte said matter-of-factly “She's the redhead girl and that one over there is the toothless boy” she pointed at Casey with her tied hands.

 

“How hard did you hit her Raph? " Leo was a little bit concerned.

 

“Believe me… not that hard”

 

“Miss, I'm afraid you will need to tells us why you wanted to shoot April” Leo's words were polite, but his tone was severe.

 

“Who?” she tilted her head a little.

 

Leo took a deep breath “the redhead girl…” This was getting nowhere.

 

“Well… It's kind of hard to explain…” Charlotte was a little bit distracted by the overly polite boy dressed as a turtle in front of her… for some reason, he really reminded her of someone.

 

“Then make it simple!” Raph threatened.

 

“Ahm…” she lowered her sight; she was really trying to come up with a good explanation, until she remembered something very important “Where's Jose?”

 

“Who's Jose?” Leo asked.

 

“My friend”

 

“The old Mexican guy?” Raph said.

 

“Hey! He's not that old” She sent him a dirty look.

 

“I don't know where he is, I lost him after YOU shot my friend with one of your stupid arrows”

 

“They aren't stupid” Charlotte's eyes became glossy again, and she started wondering what problem did these people had with her arrows “and you were the ones beating him up two against one. That was absolutely not a fair fight”

 

“She has a point, Raph” Leo expression was somehow pleased, and to make it worse April and Donnie also nodded.

 

Raphael felt a little bit cornered by all the accusatory stares “Arghh, whatever… she's the one you should be judging here not me!” he walked to the opposite wall and leaned on it with his arms crossed and a grumpy expression on his face.

 

Leo smirked and returned with the interrogation “Miss, why were you after our friend?”

 

“Because is my job… at least temporally”

 

“Your job…” Leo turned pensive for a minute…perhaps someone had sent her to go after April, maybe the kraang or the Foot. That would mean they could be starting another conspiracy to take over the world “are you working for somebody? Did somebody send you?” Leo felt like he was starting to make some progress.

 

“Yes… a winged toddler” Or maybe not.

 

“Excuse me? Did you just say a _winged toddler_?” Now was Donnie’s time to intervene, he had remained silent until now, but after hearing such ridiculous thing, he needed to say something.

 

“Yes, he lent me his magical bow while he's recovering from his injury” she said almost robotically.

 

“Injury…?”

 

“Yes, I pierced his arm with an arrow… it was all an accident of course” She cleared out.

 

“So, you are saying that… you were after April, because you are doing the winged toddler's job until he recovers from the injury that you accidentally caused him?" Donnie resumed. That's why he was the smart one, because nobody else had been able to keep up with such a conversation.

 

The little miss nodded.

 

Leonardo's sapphire eyes narrowed and he stood up again “Ok, time to huddle guys”

 

All the conscious and not tied up people in the alley, gathered together in a circle and interlaced their arms together.

 

 _“Okay, this is creeping me out guys”_ April was the first to talk.

 

 _“Are you guys sure she is just not a patient that escaped from a mental institute or something?”_ Raphael suggested.

 

 _“That sounds logical”_ Donnie nodded, remembering the story about the winged toddler.

 

Leo shook his head _“Have any of you searched for an ID or something?”_

 

 _“Of course not, but it's not like she could hide much… did you see what she's wearing?”_ Raphael pointed out a really important fact.

 

_“Why me?”_

_“Because you are both girls “_

_“I don't want to go anywhere near that crazy girl”_

Leo sighed, “ _Well someone needs to search her… April?”_

 

Leo rolled his eyes _“Sigh…Okay, Donnie search her”_

 

_“W- W-Why me?”_

 

 _“Just scan her with your phone and you won't have to touch her, brainiac”_ Despite Raphael's harsh tone, he was a little bit glad he wasn't the one chosen to do it.

 

 _“Oh right… I knew that”_ a small blush creep up to his cheeks.

 

April leaned closer to the center on the circle _“Guys, there's something that doesn't smell good here… and I'm not talking about Raph breath”_

 

_“Hey!”_

 

_“All I'm saying is that even if she's crazy, her arrows really did something strange to Casey and Mikey”_

 

 _“Yeah, Casey was like possessed by something”_ Raphael agreed.

 

 _“Mikey too”_ Leo nodded.

 

Donnie eyes became round with curiousness _“Leo, Raph, what do you mean by that? What did they do?”_ He asked like for third time tonight, darting his eyes between his two older brothers.

 

_“Well…”_

 

“Sorry for interrupting…” Charlotte wasn't known for being very patient, plus she could hear them perfectly from where she was sitting, “but, I really need to get going and…”

 

April rapidly broke the huddle and turned to face her attacker with her hands on her hips “you will not go anywhere until you tell us exactly who you are”

 

“I already told you… I'm a cupid, I thought the costume really gave it away you know” Charlotte was getting tired of so many questions.

 

Everybody just stared at her confusedly.

 

“Afff… I go around the city shooting people to make them fall in love. That's my job okay!” The little miss's face became vivid red. At that moment, she felt like dying from embarrassment, and the weird look everyone was giving her only made it worse.

 

“Ehmm…” Leo was a little bit perplexed by that statement, but he managed to recover his cool fast “Miss, could you explain yourself mo-”

 

Raph pushed his leader out of the way “Yeah, yeah, invite her to take the tea later Leo” he crouched in front of Charlotte and roughly pinned her shoulder against the brick wall behind her “you have to be kidding me missy!” He practically grunted while taking out his Sai and pointing it at her neck “you think we are all fools or something? Who would believe something like that?”

 

Charlotte turned pale; she was starting to understand why Jose always warned her about the gang thugs “It's true! That's the reason why my arrows don't hurt people; didn't you think it was weird that there was no arrow stuck in your friend after I hit him?” The little miss was really having a hard time ignoring the giant and pointy salad fork pressed against her neck.

 

“Raph back off… maybe she's telling us the true”

 

“Leo you cannot be serious, that doesn't make any sense” Donnie said with a shocked expression.

 

“It does… a little bit. I mean, that would explain why Mikey was acting that way…”

 

“Leo what happened with Mikey? What did he do?” this time April was the one who asked.

 

“Said it Leo!” Donnie snapped.

 

Leonardo took a deep breath and closed his eyes before almost shouting “he was kissing a civilian! In the lips!” he almost felt sick after saying that.

 

Charlotte rolled her eyes… _aff, this guy is obviously a total virgin_ “Please… how old are you guys? He was almost eating her face! It was hilarious” Charlotte began giggling until Raphael pinched her with the point of his Sai to shut her up “Ouch”

 

“Wait! Do you mean… a human girl?” Donnie was still trying to process what his leader had just told them. He could have imagined Mikey doing anything with a human girl, but that… he was the baby on the bunch for God's sake! He was still going through puberty.

 

Charlotte raised a brow “A human girl? Why you guys talk so strangely… Ouch!” Raphael pinched her again.

 

Despise Leo pained expression he continued “After I arrived to the rooftop Mikey was supposed to be in, I heard someone screaming and I realized he had broken into one of the next building's apartments, then when I jumped closer I saw him… well, all over a human girl” he covered his eyes with his hands in order to shake off the memory.

 

Donatello began rubbing his temples “Let me see if I get this… she shot Mikey and that made him broke into a random girl's apartment to kiss her… and what happened with Casey? What did he do then…?”

 

All of them turned to look at Raph, who was still crouching in front of Charlotte and pointing his Sai at her neck, hence giving his shell to everybody else. That made Charlotte the only one able to see his face at that moment, which had turned as red as the mask he was wearing _“Ohh… the plot thickens”_ she mused in her mind.

 

Leo cleared his throat “Mmmh… Raph? What's-”

 

“After I shot the toothless boy, he jumped over a random girl on the street” Charlotte suddenly spoke “I saw him kissing her before I went running after the redhead” She didn't know why she was covering this really rude guy up, but after seeing his flustered face she just couldn't help it “and for the looks of it, I think she was a street walker…” okay, that last part she just said it to get even for all the pinching.

 

Raphael's eyes widened a little “Y- yeah… just as she said” he removed his weapon from her neck and stood up to go meet the others, but not before giving a last unreadable look to Charlotte “but she wasn't a street walker” he growled.

 

“Are you sure? She looked pretty cheap to me” okay, now the situation was getting a little bit out of control.

 

“You little…” Raph muttered and was about to grab her again until Leonardo stopped him.

 

“Alright guys, it's enough” he ordered.

 

Raphael growled one last time and leaned against a wall without saying another word.

 

“This is crazy, how can she do that?” Donnie still couldn't truly believe it.

 

“So… Casey made up with a whore” April had a look of pure disgust on her face.

 

After seeing the perturbed expression on everyone's faces, Leonardo couldn't help but blame himself for how the things had ended up developing. He was supposed to lead them and yet… everything had resulted disastrous, plus, they had encountered themselves with another predicament.

 

This strange girl, who called herself a Cupid…

 

“Sigh… maybe she's telling us the truth, maybe her intention wasn't hurting April or anybody else”

 

“Leo you can't be...” Donnie started protesting, but went quiet when Leo raised a hand to indicate silence.

 

Leo demeanor changed drastically to a more serious and menacing one “However, the way she shot Mikey and Casey without any kind of scrutiny or rational bases, made me realize that her type of ability, even if it sounds harmless, could be very damaging…even dangerous if it's on the wrong hands”

 

Charlotte’s mouth fell agape “dan- dangerous?”

 

Leo nodded “you just made Mikey and Casey kiss innocent girls against their will; and even if it was only kissing that stills count as an assault… and I don't want to imagine how many other people you had shot so irresponsibly”

 

Those last words pierced Charlotte's soul like a dagger. She had never thought of her new powers in that kind of way…the boy dressed as a turtle was right, she used her powers in a really stupid way, and she let her feelings overcome her good judgment. Reason why, now she was tied up in alley, surrounded by strange people, and Jose…well, she didn't have any frigging idea about what had happened to Jose, but surely he was pretty beat up.

 

“Wait, this has to have a rational explanation… she can't just magically made people fall in love just like that, that's just absurd” The genius turtle was still trying to find a logical explanation for all this mess.

 

“Then, what you suggest we do Donnie? We can't exactly handle her to the police, but we can't exactly let her free either” Leo asked.

 

Charlotte was startled out of her guilt trip after hearing that “Wait a minute? Did you just say you can't let me go? How long are you planning of keeping me here? I need to finish my job!”

 

“Sorry miss, but we can't let you continue your 'job' until we make sure you are not a threat against other people”

 

“ I know my rights you know!” in the middle of her anger outburst Charlotte's little wings started flapping around and tossing feathers everywhere.

 

Donnie's eyes widened “Wait a minute… are those wings real? All this time I thought they were part of the costume”

 

“So, she isn't human?” To April that would explain a lot of things… a lot!

 

Donatello approached the winged girl and scanned her with his T-phone “apparently not…” after the scan finished, the screen blinked with the words 'Undetermined species' several times before showing the scandalous numbers of trackers she had on herself.

 

“I'M A HUMAN! How can you say such a thing? This is just a costume, like the turtle disguise you are all wearing”

 

Everyone just exchange an awkward and nervous look before setting their eyes on anything else but her.

 

“What?” She asked nervously after observing everyone’s awkward reaction.

 

“Pfff, this is not a disguise dudette. We are real turtles… mutated turtles…but turtles” someone laughed.

 

“Mikey! When did you wake up?

 

“A couple of minutes ago dude” for some reason he seemed okay.

 

“And how are you feeling?” Donnie started to check his brother's vitals but Mikey decided to jump in that moment to scream.

 

“AWESOME!”

 

“Uhgggg…” Charlotte was starting to hyperventilate. Fuck they were real turtles…real giant turtles.

 

Leo knelt in front of her “Miss, are you okay?”

 

“I thought it was weird she hadn't freaked out by now” Raph smirked.

 

“Awww, I think she's really cute guys, she can't be evil, she looks like a little angel” Mikey cooed while pocking Charlotte's cheek with his finger “and look at her hair! It's awesome! It's like cotton candy”

 

“EEK! Stop chewing my hair”

 

“Mikey stop! You don't know where that has been” Leo scolded

 

“Why don't we take her home with us? Bros!” Mikey big blue eyes sparkled with hope.

 

“We can't bring her home with us Mikey, she is an enemy… although, I could examine her better in my lab” Donnie said as he finished disabling all of Charlotte trackers “Why do you have so many trackers on you?” that definitely raised a new question for him.

 

“What? You want to examine me already? At least invite me dinner first” Even in the middle of a terror fit, Charlotte couldn't let any dirty innuendos pass.

 

Leo clapped his hands “Well… The sun will rise soon and we need to go home. If we keep her tied up she shouldn't be a problem. What do you think Raph?…Raph?”

 

Raphael seemed to be on his own little world at that moment “Uh? Eh…I don't know just do what you guys want”

 

“Great!” Mikey yelled and made a back flip before picking Charlotte up princess style. “You, ice cream kitty and I will be the best friends ever!”

 

“Mikey, she's not going for pleasure” Donnie said, throwing all Charlotte's trackers inside a trash can.

 

“Oh so you aren't even going to give me that” again, she just couldn't let pass any opportunity to make a dirty joke.

 

Donnie just grunted… he was starting to regret this decision.

 

“There, there, it's alright there's no need to be scared, you will love the lair! I will show you my comic book collection and my action figure collection” Mikey started bouncing around “Then, we can watch a lot of scary movies together, eat pizza… Oh! And I can teach you my awesome moves in my skater board! It will be sooo much fun!”

 

“Let me go! I prefer being handed to the police” she started squirming like a worn trying to free herself.

 

“There's no need to worry miss. We'll let you go after we make sure you are not danger to others” Leo made a signal at Mikey indicating that it was time to blindfold her… and also to cover her mouth with something.

 

“No! Please someone help me! Jose! Jo…jsjfmmmdj”

 

“Alright guys, let's go home” Now the principal worry on the young leader's mind was his father's reaction to this entire situation.

 

**To be continued...**


	5. No matter the cost

Charlotte Vandenberg, aka current public enemy No. 1, had instantly passed out as soon as she descended the manhole. The little miss had never been inside of something as putrid and nauseating as the sewage system; and even though Jose after eating _chiles rellenos_ could give the sewers a run for their money, they were still by far the worst thing she had smelled in her life. After all, Charlotte was a sheltered young lady, meaning she have zero immunity to all the nastiness of the real world.

 

On the other hand, Charlotte blacking out made easier for the Hamato brothers to arrive home peacefully. Especially for Michelangelo, who never imagined that carrying a tied up, 115 pounds girl would end up being so challenging. The little girl just continued fighting and squirming as if her life depended on it, even more after he made the suggestion of her trying out his new jelly donuts pizza recipe.

 

Everyone was drained both physically and mentally for the night. April was sent home after they promised to keep her posted of any new information regarding the strange girl, and that they would take good care of Casey, whom after Donnie make wasn’t suffering from a serious head contusion, was left to sleep on the lair's couch.

 

After arriving home the turtles decided to take turns watching the bird girl. For everyone's surprise, Mikey actually offered to take the first turn; however, nobody thought that was a good idea. So, in the end Donnie took the first one, given he wanted to start his research as soon as possible.

 

And right now, the young lady was little by little coming back to the world of consciousness. At first, she thought she was on her own room, and had just woken up from a really bad nightmare where she got kidnapped by scary, but kind of handsome looking reptiles. However, that sweet sensation of relieve vanished abruptly after realizing her hands and legs were still tied up and that she was lying over the cold and hard surface of a wide metallic table.

 

“Oh! You are awake”

 

“Uhggg… What happen…where?” she mumbled groggily. Her eye lids where still heavy, but even so, she quickly recognized the figure looming in front her. It was one of her captors, to be more specific the purple one who wanted to examine her.

 

“You are in our lair. Are you alright? Do you need any medical help?”

 

Charlotte looked into his eyes for a second, then she looked at the strange place she was in, and without any warning she let out a super high pitch, piercing scream that seemed brought out from a bad horror movie.

 

“HYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA TURTLE! KIDNAPPER!”

 

Donnie instinctively withdrew half of his head into his shell and covered his ear holes with his hands “Hey, what's-” his words were interrupted by another and more vigorous scream. He was starting to regret having taken off her gag, but in that moment he just thought it was the most _humane_ thing to do, given they had already arrived to the lair.

 

“STAY AWAY! YOU KIDNAPPER! DON'T COME CLOSE” she recoiled until one of the table corners and pressed herself against the wall surrounding it.

 

Between all the hysterical screaming, Donnie noticed she seemed to be genuinely scared and even felt a little bit bad for her, but at this rate she would end up waking up everyone in the lair… including Master Splinter! He definitely needed to stop her.

 

“HYAAAAAAAA STAY AWAY, STAY- MMmmghhhjgjgkjh…” Out of panic, Donnie covered her mouth with his hand.

 

“Miss, please, I understand you are scared, but we are not going to hurt you” he tried reasoning with her.

 

“Ughmmfusjhjkfss” despite his strong grip; the little miss kept struggling and grunting like a wild animal. Donatello was starting to understand why Mikey had so much trouble carrying her earlier; he definitely shouldn't have made so much fun of him because of that.

 

“Miss you need to calm down, otherwise I will have to seda- OUCH OUCH!” his warning was cut short when the little miss jerked her head out of his grip in a perfect angle to steal a wide strong bite on one of his meaty fingers “YOU JUST BITE ME?” he asked bewildered.

 

“That's what you get for covering my mouth, PERVERTED TURTLE!” she clearly wasn't a fan of being manhandled.

 

Donnie immediately looked back at his bite finger. His skin was much ticker than the average human, but this girl managed to bite him hard enough to draw a little bit of blood “Alright! I didn't want to say this, but YOU ARE TOTALLY CRAZY!”

 

“Uhhggg …” big fat tears started dropping from her eyes.

 

Donatello's attention was immediately draw from his hurt finger to the sobbing girl “A- are you crying?” he asked in disbelief “W- Why are you crying?”

 

“You said you wanted to examine me… I- I don't want to be examined” Tears flowed from her eyes like a cascade.

 

Sighing, he looked at the ceiling and started scratching the back of his head, wondering what to do. There weren't many situations this genius; highly trained ninja couldn't handle, but a girl crying… man, he was at loss of what to do “Hmmm, you don't need to worry about that” he tried keeping his voice as gentle as possible… after all, his father has taught them to treat women delicately “All the tests are really simple and painless. I just need to take some samples of-” he was interrupted again.

 

“I never imagined my first time being like this… tied up and on a strange place… I'm not mentally prepared yet”

 

A very disturbed Donatello took a step back “I don't know what you think the word examination means... but I assure you IS NOT WHAT YOU ARE THINKING!”

 

“Why are you yelling at me?” she asked with big glassy eyes and a small red nose.

 

“I'M NOT… aff” he drew in a long breath. He would need a lot of patience if he wanted to deal with this girl; fortunately he had spent seventeen years living with Michelangelo “I’m not yelling at you… I'm just tired okay?” he sighed, rubbing his temples “I just want to get to the bottom of this. And the more you cooperate, the faster we can clear up all this mess. So please, stop screaming, stop crying. I'm sorry things had come to the point we ended up tying you up and bring you until this strange place, but you didn't gave us many options” Frowning, and feeling deflated, Donatello turned around to look for his first aid kit.

 

 _“Well… someone has a temper”_ she pouted. The little miss wasn't sure if she could thrush this enlarged turtle or not. After all, the last time she had trusted a stranger her father had ended up paying 10 million dollars _“Sigh…I need to get back home”_

 

“Calm down Donnie… just relax… and the faster you finish with this, the faster she will leave, and you will never have to deal with her again” he said to himself while applying some ointment on his bite marks.

 

While the mean turtle was busy muttering angry words, Charlotte took a minute to analyze the strange place she was being kept into. For her, this place looked brought straight out from a science fiction movie. There were weird gadgets scattered all around the place and print outs with strange graphics and sketches hanging on the walls. A big blackboard with some weird formulas written on it was pushed against a wall, and all the tables were full of lab equipment _“Oh my God… I'm gonna be dissected by this mad scientist turtle if I don't do something… Hmmm, but where is my-”_

 

“Where is my bow?” She unintentionally asked out loud.

 

Donatello sighed “I'm scanning it”

 

Charlotte blinked “can I have it back?”

 

“Obviously, not yet”

 

The young miss titled her head in confusion “Why?” That was weird, usually when she asked for something, people just gave it to her _“Well he's a turtle so maybe that's why…”_

 

“Because, I'm scanning it” he repeated with a little bit of irritation dripping from his voice.

 

“Oh… why?” Charlotte really wanted her bow… she didn't want to imagine how choleric Cupid would become if he found out his bow was in hands of someone else. She shivered just thinking about it.

 

“Because I need to see what it's made of”

 

“Ah…” she nodded “and how are you going to do that?”

 

“With near-infrared spectroscopy” Donnie said as he proudly removed a large white cloak from a desk, revealing Charlotte's sparkly bow suspended inside a large transparent tube, with a strange green circle of light going up and down the tube.

 

Charlotte's arched a brow “what the hell is that?”

 

Donnie being Donnie couldn't help but explain “Well, basically is a process that involves shining a near-infrared light onto the surface of the bow, causing it's molecules to vibrate and reflect light” he explained while contemplating his scanner machine with dreamy eyes “That light is collected and passed through a spectrometer that would separate it out into all the different wavelengths it contains, and then analyzing the bow optical signature I can determine what it's made out of”

 

“Oh, I see…”

 

He looked surprised “Did you really understand what I just said?”

 

She snorted “Of course not, but just don't break it okay?”

 

Donnie only grunted in response, and went to prepare the scanner to initialize the whole process.

 

 _“Ok, I cannot use my bow to get out of here… maybe I will have to use my brute force. Hmm, who I'm kidding? I bruise like a peach… maybe, I can use my irresistible charm and undeniable cuteness to get on his good side and convince him of letting me go… Wait… Is that turtle even male?”_ she titled her head and started looking at him up and down, he was giving her his shell while typing something over a big computer in front of him _“He does have a masculine voice but in the other hand, he's wearing purple… and I bet Freud would have something interesting to say about that long stick he uses to fight”_ she started snickering but immediately stopped when Donnie turned his head around and gave her an annoyed look _“wait! Focus Charlotte! Focus! First let's assume it's a male, but how you seduce a turtle? Well, he's obviously a nerd, that's for sure, so let's compliment that”_

 

Taking advantage of her tied wrists and ankles, she took a sitting mermaid like position over the table she was currently sitting on in an attempt to look more appealing. Charlotte wasn't good at many things, but when she needed to use her good looks to get herself out of a bad situation, let just said she was… Hmmm, who I'm kidding? She wasn't good at that either. However, that never stopped her for trying.

 

“So, is this your lab? Is pretty… cool” she even changed her voice to sound a little bit sultrier.

 

Donnie was a little taken aback by the sudden nice comment and stopped typing for a second “Oh, t-thanks…yes this is my lab/workshop. I built it myself” he said turning his head a little, a subtle smile creeping up to his face. He loved his lab, and nobody has really complimented it before, much less a girl.

 

“Really? You built it yourself? Amaaa-aazing” Charlotte was currently wondering why the hell a turtle would need its own laboratory for, but she needed to stay in character “I bet you are a genius” she was starting to feel more confident thanks to the turtle’s positive response, and tried tossing her hair in a coyly way over her shoulder, but that move ricocheted against her when some hair ended up getting twirled over her face “Cough… Cough” she began choking when some strands accidentally felt into her mouth.

 

Donnie arched a brow bridge “Are you okay?”

 

She started removing her hair from her face with her tied hands “Yeah… I'm fi- Ouch, Ouch!” until some of it got tangled around the rope “Ouch! Thinking about it, I'm kind of stuck” while trying to get out of the mess more and more hair got trapped around the rope “EEK! Please…Help!”

 

Annoyed, Donnie turned around from his task “Oh, boy” he exclaimed when he saw the mass of hair tangled around her wrists “How did that happen?”

 

A tear escaped her eye “I- I don't know, but it hurts…” the more she tried untangling it, the more it got knotted.

 

Donnie scooted closer and began inspecting the tangled mess. “Don’t move okay? You are only making it worse” he tried pulling it a little bit, but it only made her whimper.

 

“It hurts…” she sobbed.

 

“Oh shell, my hands are too big…” he said as he fought against the pink mass of interlaced locks “I’m afraid I'm going to have to cut it”

 

“WHAT! NOUU don’t you have some oil or something?”

 

“I don't think it would make any difference. It's really badly knotted. Plus, is only hair, it will grow back”

 

Charlotte's mouth felt agape. Of course he wasn't going to understand... he was bald “B- Bu-But… a girl hair is her life!” with her arms at the sides of her face, and her hands over the base of her head, she lifted her sight to look at him with a puppy pleading expression.

 

Donnie gulped _“what's with that face? She's definitely trying to manipulate me”_ he averted his eyes from her puppy ones, and began thinking a solution _“I could cut the rope instead of her hair… but what if this is a trap?”_ he quickly glanced her way again; Charlotte continued looking at him expectantly. He sighed _“Well… she's already disarmed and I'm a highly trained ninja. It should be okay… I guess”_ he really tried to be strong… but he couldn't do that to a girl, much less if she looked at him like that.

 

The young miss gasped when she saw him taking out a small, sharp dagger from his belt, and closed her eyes expecting the worst _“Ughh… my hair”_

 

Trying to be as gentle as possible, he cut the ropes around her hands “don't try doing anything funny okay?” he warned as he was finally able to untangle the pink mess out of the ropes.

 

Charlotte was stunned by the inexplicable kindness. She was absolutely sure he was going to sacrifice her hair _“Maybe he isn't that bad”_ she said to herself in awe.

 

“Okay… I'm finish. Does it hurt?”

 

The young miss shook her head in response “thanks…”

 

“Alright” he said clapping his hands “Now let's move on” he brought a rolling chair and a clipboard from a nearby desk and sat in from of her “I will ask you a series of questions, and I need you to answer me as clearly as possible. Don’t give me more redundant answers, alright?” He pointed at her with an oversize pen, to establish his point. He would be no softy anymore.

 

“Yeah, yeah” She huffed _“How long would I have to stay here? Jose must be sick worried… and if my father finds out that I'm missing…”_ she got goosebumps just thinking about it.

 

“Let's start with a simple question. How old are you?”

 

“I'm seventeen” that was easy.

 

“Good” he wrote what she assumed was her answer on the clipboard “Now could you please tell me your name?”

 

She narrowed her eyes at him “Why do you need to know that?” Jose has always told her to never say her full name to strangers, much less if they were part of a gang.

 

Don rolled his eyes… she was getting difficult again “Well, it doesn't matter if you don't want to tell me… I have other ways to find out” he almost muttered the last part.

 

 _“OK, scratch that about him being nice… This turtle is so scary”_ Charlotte could tell he was starting to get serious now, and she hated it. Serious situations made her become anxious, and feeling anxious meant itchiness. At least she was able to scratch herself now.

 

“Could you please explain how exactly did you obtain your weird ability?”

 

 _“Damn, the itchiness started”_ Softly, she started scratching her neck “Ehmm, you remember the winged toddler I told you about? he was the one who gave me my powers…” for some reason she felt extremely uncomfortable telling him about her encounter with Cupid “you see, I accidentally injured his shooting arm, so he forced me to replace him on his job and gave me his bow. I'm only doing this temporally and only because I don’t have another choice”

 

“Then you are telling me that this 'winged toddler' was Cupid?” The incredulity radiating from his words was palpable. He wasn't buying this story at all, but he was going to continue to see how far she would get.

 

Charlotte nodded and kept scratching herself. Now, she knew the reason why she was so nervous. It was because this entire story sounded…stupid and crazy. She felt silly and embarrassed just by telling it, more so to a complete stranger who believed she was nuts.

 

He scribbled something on the clipboard and continued asking “OK, so your powers how do they work?”

 

She rolled her eyes “I already answered that… why do I have to repeat myself?” she snapped at him.

 

Donnie scowled “Yes, I know the entire story about you being able to magically make people fall in love… but, I believe there's more information that you are not telling us. There must be some kind of hidden trick or rational explanation… there are some drugs you can use to make people believe they are in love, you know?”

 

Charlotte couldn't believe what she was hearing “Hey! Hey! Hold your horses… I'm not using drugs on anybody! Do you think I'm just some crazy chick who goes around at night wearing this embarrassing costume and drugging people?”

 

 _Yes… that's exactly what I'm thinking_ “I'm just trying to discard all the possibilities in order to get a rational explanation Miss”

 

 _“Great, he's judging me now”_ crankily she arched her back and leaned against the wall behind her.

 

He wrote something down on the clipboard again. The sound that the pen made against the sheet, sent shivers running down her spine. Donnie had his legs crossed and his head resting on his hand, he looked bored.

 

_“I want to go home”_

 

* * *

 

 

Meanwhile, over the New York City streets, Jose was also in the brink of a nervous breakdown… it has been hours since he got away from the two streets punks and hours since he had last seen his little mistress.

 

“Miss, where are you?” Jose whispered over and over again to himself.

 

He had managed to get the Roll Royce back after paying a good fine to the city impounds lot. At least the tow truck has found the car before the robbers did.

 

“Mierda!” Jose yelled while punching the steering wheel of the car.

 

He has been driving around the city like a mad man looking for any sight of Charlotte, but it's has been pointless. He couldn't find anything, not even a small clue of what could have happened to her. She didn't take her cellphone with her, and all the trackers he had implanted on her have been disconnected somehow. Jose was already imagining the worst. Everything pointed out that she had been kidnapped by someone... again. But the strange thing was that nobody has called asking for rescue money yet. They should have known by now who her father was. Unless… they didn't took her for the money but for…

 

His eyes widened “Ay Dios Mio! My little Miss Charlotte, I should have known you were too cute to be running around alone dressed like that! … I'm so stupid!” Jose cried while hitting his forehead against the steering wheel.

 

“I failed you Miss Charlotte… I couldn't protect you…” in the middle of his sorrow his cellphone went off in his pocket. He perked up and hurried to answer it, hoping with all his heart Charlotte would be the one calling. However, his hope broke after hearing the voice of his only son instead.

 

“Sebas! Hello mijo, how's everything going in Japan? Are you working hard?” Jose tried his best to hide the distress in his voice.

 

 _“Dad… Is something wrong? You sound weird”_ Damn! He forgot how perspicacious his son was.

 

Jose faked a little laugh “Nothing mijo… it just that I just woke up, and I'm still a little drowsy”

_“Sorry, did I wake you up?”_

“No, no I was already up”

 

_“Dad, are you sure everything is okay? I have this really strange feeling that something is going terribly wrong”_

 

Fuck, he didn't know how Sebastian did it, but for some reason his son always knew when something was wrong… especially if that something was related to Charlotte. Before, he found Sebastian's strange sixth sense kind of cute, but now he was starting to think it was a little bit spooky, he was on the other side of the world for God's sake! How did he do it? “Sebastian, are you getting home sick already?” he tried to joke “Nothing is wrong mijo, you are just overthinking”

 

“What about Charlotte? Has she done anything reckless lately? Did she get you in trouble again?”

 

A little tear escape from Jose's eyes as he thought about his little miss “No… she's has been behaving really well lately… she has been a little angel”

 

For Sebastian that sounded even more suspicious _“Dad… are you sure everything is alright? Is Charlotte awake? I would like to talk with her”_

 

“No, no, mijo, you know is too early for her to be up yet… is Saturday after all”

 

_“Can't you wake her up? I really need to speak with her”_

 

Jose started sweating “mijo, let her sleep… she went late to bed last night. We finished all the Gilmore Girls first season”

 

 _“Hmp…”_ Sebastian grunted _“Well… just tell her to call me when she wakes up, I need to go back now… I'm kind of in the middle of a business dinner”_

 

“Yes… I will tell her, and Sebas… please don't overwork yourself so much”

 

_“I could say the same thing to you dad. We will talk later… Bye, te quiero”_

 

“Te quiero mijo, bye”

 

He dropped his phone “Aff” Jose knew he could not waste any more time. He needed to something... and it was something he had wanted to avoid doing with all his heart until now “don't worry Miss Charlotte… I will find you… no matter the cost”

 

* * *

 

 

Donnie was too focused scribbling to notice any of Charlotte's anxiety symptoms. Maybe, if he had paid a little bit more attention he could have prevented what happened next, but he was feeling tired, irritated and a little bit frustrated. Since April told him about her strange incidents, he has been working until late night trying to find clues about the culprit, and he was now feeling a little bit humiliated that this crazy girl has been the one keeping him up for three consecutive nights...which remained him “How is that you don't appear on any of the security cameras' recordings?”

 

“Eh?”

 

He shook his head, he really needed to let his personal feeling aside if he wanted to make an objective interrogation “I- I mean” he stood up and went directly to the big computer, he typed something really quickly making the screen split itself in various frames showing different shootings from a same avenue “This is a recording taken by a security camera near the first place you attacked April…”

 

“Attack is a really strong word don't you think?”

 

Don narrowed his eyes and without saying a word, pressed another key, making the images change to show a really exhausted April and Casey struggling to dodge arrow after arrow, and using trash can lids to shield themselves from even more arrows.

 

“Oh…” she said sheepishly “that does just look worse than it actually is… I just wanted to help them become a couple, it's that a crime?” she crossed her arms defensibly, but she soon separated them to keep scratching her neck.

 

Donnie's right eye started twitching “YES! IT IS!” he couldn't help but clench his fits; maybe it would be impossible for him to let his personal feelings aside, even more if she continued saying things like that.

 

Charlotte frowned. Apparently, the redhead was some kind of untouchable princess for this turtle people, especially for this purple one. Maybe, she was their owner or something “Aff… I wasn't going to hurt her! I swear…”

 

“I know that…” he began massaging his temples. He needed to keep his emotions in check “returning to my previous question, how come you cannot be seen on any of the recordings, and why it was so difficult locating you before?” he zoomed one on the cameras “following my calculations and the trajectory of your arrows you should have been standing in this exact place”

 

“Well… I have some hypothesis about that… you see…” she gulped, Charlotte was about to explain something really embarrassing and the rash in her neck was growing worse by the minute “When Cupid assigned me the job… he also assigned me this ridiculous uniform… and-”

 

“And?” he hurried.

 

Her face became as red as a tomato “And when is time to start doing my job, a strange and sparkly light comes and changes me into Cupid mode… my hair and skin also change… and when that happens… I become kind of invisible for normal people… only small children and animals are able to see me. Sometimes, normal people can see me, but only when I talk with them or manifest myself in front of them”

 

“Cupid mode?”

 

“Yes, that's how I call myself when I'm in this state… I'm a normal human you know”

 

“Well, my phone scan said otherwise… I will need to take some DNA sample to make sure of that”

 

“D- DNA samples? Don't you think that's a little bit too much? Plus, I'm pretty sure taking samples without the other person consent is against the law”

 

“Shooting at people with pointy arrows is also against the law” Donnie crossed his arms. If she was going to be stubborn he could play the same car.

 

She hanged her head in defeat “Yeah… you are right” Charlotte didn't know what else to said so she could prove her innoce _nce “Sebastian was right…I only do stupid things that end up getting everybody in trouble”_ her breathing started becoming a little bit uneven and she felt her throat starting to close.

 

“Ok, so now, since you didn't answered this clearly earlier…” he made a brief pause in order to put his ideas in order, and his voice turned a little bit strained when he finally asked “Why between all the people living in this city, did you choose to shoot April and Casey?”

 

That did it. She started hyperventilating.

 

**To be continued...**


	6. Emotional Roller Coaster

 

As precise as a clock, Leo woke up that morning at six am sharp. Normally, he would join his father in the dojo for a short meditation session before breakfast and morning practice; however, today the young leader had a more important business to attend first.

After a quick bathroom visit, Leo crossed the small hallway that separated each brother's room. As he walked, he heard Raphael's heavy snores coming from behind one of the doors, and sighed in relieve. It was good to know that his hotheaded brother wouldn't be awake to interrupt the really delicate conversation he needed to share with his younger sibling, and by 'interrupting' the conversation Leo meant 'sabotaging' the conversation.

The leader stopped once he reached the really colorful, super-heroes-decorated door, and took a deep breath before knocking with pure determination "Mikey, are you decent?" he asked.

"…" seconds of pure silence went by, making the young leader knock for a second time. "Mikey?" he asked again, this time opening the door to peek inside.

The room was dark and messy, but Leo's trained vision easily spotted the silhouette of his little brother wrapped between the sheets _"Figures, he's still sleeping"_ he assumed silently as he walked inside.

Leo skillfully maneuvered himself between all the garbage and toys scattered around the floor. He avoided all the obstacles with ease and grace, like a true ninja would. But, no ninjutsu skill could have saved him from stepping over really disgusting and terribly sticky, unknown substance spilled on the floor _"UGHH! MIKEY!"_ he groaned internally while cleaning his foot against a dry surface. What Leo didn't know at that moment, was that little accident was actually a divine retribution for going inside a teenage boy's room uninvited.

After some few awkward stumbles, the leader finally reached his little brother bed "Mikey, we need to talk" he announced with a little bit of annoyance in his voice, "Mikey…?" he repeated, peeling the sheets off the bed only to find out that the lump he believed was his brother, was actually a pile of empty pizza boxes stocked over the bed.

"What the shell…" scratching his head in confusion, the leader peered around the messy and crowed space. _"Weird… where could he be this early?"_ Out of all his brothers, Leo was the only early riser; of course, Donnie didn't count given he barely slept at all.

He was to turn around and leave, when a really loud "SUP! Bro!" came from behind him, sounding as loud as an explosion.

"EEK! Mi- Mikey!" Leo squeaked in surprise "I-I thought you would be still sleeping"

Mikey waved a one of his three fingered hands "Nah… I couldn't sleep bro" he said casually, walking inside his mess of a room.

Instantly, a red flag rose on the eldest brother head "that's strange Mikey, is there something troubling your mind?"

"None of that bro" his little brother chuckle instead, for him it was so funny when Leo tried to imitate Master Splinter's way of speaking "I don't know why, but for some reason I feel like an extra dose of energy today!" the smile on his face turned so bright it could have put any sunshine to shame.

"Re- Really?" Leo asked hesitantly.

The youngest nodded so enthusiastically he could have broken his neck in the process.

"That's nice to hear Mikey…" he said gently "but we need to talk" he finished with a more serious tone.

The huge smile painted on Mikey's face disappeared in an instant "Talk?… about what?"

The leader crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes "You know, Mikey…"

The baby brother demeanor became noticeably less calm, and he even began fidgeting "I really don't know dude…"

Leo rolled his eyes "Mikey…"

The "Okay! I know what you want to talk about!" He confessed, finally collapsing under the pressure of his big brother stare "but bro! I swear it wasn't my idea to use your katana to unclog the toilet! It was all Raph's idea! I swear!"

"What? No, that wasn't what I… WAIT! Did you just say you used my katana to-" Leo bit his tongue to suppress his combusting anger, he will kill his brothers later, but first he needed to get over this other issue "No, I need to talk to you about something else" he practically grunted.

Mikey chuckled awkwardly and scratched his head "Oh…then what's the matter bro?"

"We need to talk about what happened last night"

The freckled turtle tilted his head in confusion "Okay… what about last night?"

Leo arched a brow bridge, he knew Mikey could be a little oblivious, but not this much "You remember what happened yesterday… right?"

"Of course I do bro, I watched hard to die on TV, then ate pizza, then…" Mikey started numbering innocently his last night activities.

Leo raised a hand to indicate silence "No, I'm talking about what happened while we were out on patrol"

"Of course I remember, dude" Mikey snorted teasingly "we were waiting for April's stalker to show up, I was really hungry and I- "

"That's right" Leo interrupted "then, do you remember what happened after you encountered April's stalker on the rooftop?"

Mikey gasped and put a hand on his plastron, acting shocked "We found April's stalker? When?"

Leo began massaging his head to cool down the frustration "Y- Yeah! We found the stalker, Mikey! How can't you remember that? You carried her all the way to the lair; you chewed her hair and everything!"

Mikey laughed and waved a hand at his brother "Pfff, now you are the one who's confused bro, that wasn't April's stalker that was Cupid, Jezz"

Leo couldn't help but froze in disbelief for a couple of seconds "Mikey… _that CUPID_ is April's stalker! We finally managed to catch her last night. Plus, she isn't even a Cupid… she's just… well, we actually don't know what she is, but she's definitely suspicious"

"Dude! Open your eyes! Last night I found my soulmate thanks to her!" Mikey began spinning around the room as if it were a flower flied.

The shock caused by his brother's words made Leo take a step back "What! What are you talking about? And hold on, did you just use the word SOULMATE? Where did you even learn that from?"

Mikey paused his little dance "Hey" he protested "I know stuff… you will be surprised" he wiggled his brow ridge playfully, making Leo grimace.

The situation had turned even worse than Leo could have imagined. Now Mikey believed he was in love! Great, now he would have to be the one to burst his brother happy bubble. Maybe it would have been better for Raphael to be present after all "Mikey… I'm not sure if you ACTUALLY understand the situation…Let me explain it to you: you got shot by one of those girl's arrows and ended up trespassing inside a stranger's apartment and… assaulting a human girl!" he ended up throwing his arms in the air for emphasis and saying everything so fast that he was left out of breath.

Mikey pupils went wide, like a fish out of water, and for the first time in his life Leo saw his baby brother lost for words.

The eldest hurried to give a reassuring squish to his brother's shoulder "But don't worry, I know it wasn't your fault, it was that girl's fault. She did something strange to you, and I promise you I'm going to find a way to fix it"

"What nonsense are you saying Leo? She didn't do anything weird to me. She's Cupid, that's her job" Mikey said crankily as he pushed Leo's hand away "And I don't want to find a way to fix it!"

Leo's eyes went wide "Mikey! You can't be serious! You don't even know that girl. Last night you were just…" Leo made a brief pause. Gosh, this would be hard, and because it was Mikey's it only made what he wanted to said hundreds of times more difficult "you were acting as if you were in heat or something… that wasn't love… that was just… lust"

A small blush creep up to Mikey's cheeks as he averted his eyes to the side "W-Whu What do you mean?"

Leo lowered his sight and scratched the back of his neck "Yeah… that's reason why I'm here Mikey. The true is that, as your big brother, I should have talked with you about this since the moment I began noticing your changes…"

"Changes?" the small turtle winced at the sound of that word "what do you mean by _changes_?"

"Haven't you noticed? Your body is changing, your voice is changing as well… you took a little more time than us, but Mikey… you are finally starting to become an mature turtle… and that means you might start experiencing urges and feelings that you never felt before"

The young and flustered turtle took a step back, waving his hands defensibly in front of him "Hey bro! Wait, Wait, Wait! Don't tell me you are trying to give me _the talk_?"

Leo half shrugged "Well… I wouldn't call it _the talk,_ but yeah, that's why I'm intending to do right now"

"Is okay bro, you can relax! I already know everything that I need to know"

"Mikey, I really don't think you know… I think we should-" The elder frowned when he was suddenly silenced by Mikey's finger on his mouth.

"Shhh, don't worry so much bro… I know" the freckled turtle said with a confident smile.

Leo pushed his hand away from his face "Then, who did you went to talk with? Master Splinter? Donnie? And please don't tell me it you spoke with Raph"

"Nah! That would be just awkward, dude. That's why I asked Miwa"

All the green color drained from Leo's face "WHAT? Did you ask Kara- I mean, Miwa! about THIS? How? And Why!"

"Duh… because she's older, wiser and more experience than any of us"

Okay, that was a little hurtful. Why wasn't Leo the one considered the oldest, wiser and more experienced one? Was he so unreliable that Mikey had to go to ask Miwa for advice? And now that Leo thought about it, how did she even know about those kinds of topics?

"But! But! She's a human girl! How did she- " Leo tried to retort.

"Oh, don't worry bro, she knows" that wasn't a reassuring answer at all "By the way, where is Cupid now?"

"Donnie is watching her on his lab" Leo answered, for some reason he was feeling really deflated, as if he had somehow lost a really important battle.

Mikey hands went to the sides of his head "Oh No! Don't tell me Donnie went all doctor Frankenstein on her! I need to stop him before he makes her upset or something!" he was about to run at full speed to the lab when he felt something grabbing him in place.

"Wait a second" Leo halted, grabbing Mikey's shoulder "Where do you think you are going? We haven't finished here…"

"But, I think Cupid could be in problems!" The little turtle protested.

"Don't worry Mikey; I'm sure Donnie is treating her nicely…" despise Leo's leveled voice, something just seemed quite off about him "Now let's see, what did you say you guys did with my katana?"

.

* * *

.

"MISS! Please calm down!" Donnie said nervously as he struggled to remember what he had read about panic attacks in the past. Everything had happened so quickly that he wasn't sure how to react. One thing was for sure though: if she was faking it, then she was a heck of an actress.

He didn't know exactly when everything had started, but out of the sudden, the pink haired girl sitting on his medical table has started breathing as if it wasn't enough oxygen in the room, trembling so much he could literally heard the sound of her teeth clenching, and scratching her neck so desperately it was starting to leave really nasty nails marks all over the skin. But maybe, what had disturbed Donatello the most has been the way her eyes darted crazily around the room, and munbeled things to herself while rocking her body back and for, as if she were possessed by something.

Donnie became nervous, what has happened to make her become like this? He didn't know if getting closer to her was the best idea, the last thing he wanted to do was agitate her even more "You need to breathe, okay? Slowly, inhale and exhale" he began mimicking breathing movements with his arms, trying to get her attention, but the girl didn't even did so much as to recognize his presence in the room.

Seeing no change in her demeanor, Donnie took a deep breath in order to calm himself down; this was his first time dealing with this kind of situation. At one moment, he even thought about calling his father for help. Without a doubt, the wise rat would know about some ancient technique that could help the girl calm down in a second. But, he discarded the idea after considering that maybe his father's appearance would be too much for the girl to handle in her current state.

"Miss…I only want to help you out" he said cautiously, lifting his palms up to his chest in a reassuring manner "you need to trust me… I won't hurt you" he began trying to approach the table slowly.

However, his strategy failed as soon as she spotted him moving closer "Do- Don't!" she extended her arms defensibly in front of her "d-don't come clo- closer" her voice sounded rough and strained.

That made the turtle stop immediately _"Shell, she looks really bad… I need to help her calm down and quickly"_ Donnie's eyes rapidly scanned the room, thinking about a solution "that's it!" he announced, rushing to his main desk _"a tranquilizer!"_ he thought as he rummaged inside one of the really messy drawers _"a small dose will be more than enough"_ he took out a small tranquilizer gun from one of the drawers and filled it quickly. He planned on giving it to her fast, easy and in a way the girl would not even realize what have happened, but his plan crumbled once he turned around with the gun on his hand and found the young lady looking at him with a wide-eyed terrified expression.

The smart turtle swallowed hard, knowing she was surely thinking the worst case scenario "Please, stay still, this won't hurt you. It will help you feel better" he explained as he pointed at her.

His little explanation did everything but calm the girl down "N- NO" she tried to yell, but was barely able to due to the lack of air in her lungs. Charlotte could have recognized the object the turtle was holding even from miles away, they looked just like real guns, but only meaner "a- anything b-but th-that!" Charlotte hated tranquilizers so much that even 'hate' was too much of a small word to describe it. In the past, her anxiety attacks used to be so bad that the only way to made her relax was sedating her. She then would spend the entire day feeling drowsy, impotent and depressed. In other words, she would rather prefer being punched in the face before receiving any of those.

Donnie grunted in frustration _"Shell… why does she have to make everything so difficult?"_ He didn't know what else he could do to help her. She didn't even allow him get close to her, and she was only getting worse by the minute. No, he definitely needed to give her the tranquilizer, it was for the best. So, with pure determination he lifted the small gun again.

Charlotte winced over her seat once she realized he wasn't going to change his mind. Desperation took over her, and her mind got clouded with fear, reason why she did the only thing she could think of to escape from the demonic tranquilizer… that's right, she punched herself right in the face with so much force that the impact sent her body stumbling down the table.

Donnie watched with a horrified expression how the girl literally knocked herself straight to the floor "Watch ou-" he pointlessly tried warning her, but not even his super quick ninja reflexes could have saved her from such a nasty fall "Shell…" he exclaimed after seeing her land face to the floor.

The little miss ended up with her face pressed like a pancake against the cold hard floor " _Damn… I think I should have planned this a little bit more"_ she cursed in her mind. At that moment she didn't know what had hurt the most: the punch, the fall or the humiliation… well, at least she had managed to snap out from her panic attack.

"Are you completely out of your mind!" she heard the purple turtle yelling at the same time her body was rolled around. "Don't bother answering that. I think I already know the answer" he was kneeling beside her with a strange mixture of surprise, concern and irritation on his face "what the shell you did that for?"

She blinked at the ceiling before answering with a strained but calm voice "I- I hate… tr- tranquilizers" her breathing was still a little bit rapid, but at least it wasn't as bad as before. She sat up and tried to stand up from the floor only to fall over her butt again. She had totally forgotten the fact that her ankles were still tied together.

Donnie took her arm to help her sit up "Hey! Be more careful, won't you? Let me help you…" yet, his good intentions were instantly rejected by her shaking her body away from his grip and giving him a nasty look.

"Le- Le- Leave me alone, I don't need help" she barked at him as fresh tears began popping from the corner of her eyes, and a line of blood began falling from her nose.

"Oh, sewer apples… please don't start crying again!" He almost pleaded.

.

* * *

.

At the other side of the city, parking on the driveway of a still closed carwash. Jose listened with agony the loud and really annoying waiting tone of his phone.

The more he waited, the more doubtful he became about his decision _"calm down Jose, just stick to the plan…"_ he said to himself.

Under any other circumstance, Jose would have already beaten himself up for even thinking about such a solution. But desperate situations required desperate measures, and he was feeling more than frantic. He was well aware that the probabilities of finding Charlotte safe and sound grew smaller by the minute. That's why he knew this wasn't time for hesitations; this was time for actions, meaning no backing up.

Of course, his first thought has been to call the police for help. But, after remembering how the police had handled things the first time Charlotte got kidnapped… Well, don't misunderstand; he knew the NYPD had done the best they have could, but this time, the situation would not simply resolve by giving money to the culprits. This time the motives of the abduction were unknown, and sadly he believed that the only way he would really find his little mistress was if he handled things by himself.

" _Fong talking, who is it?"_ A really gruff voice finally answered.

Jose dragged a hand over his face, rubbed his temples, and gave a big resigned sigh before finally saying "Hello Fong… is me… Jose Martinez. I hope you still remember me"

" _WHAT? ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?"_ after having already predicted such an extreme reaction, Jose's was already holding his phone a few inches again from his ear _"YOU MOTHER F*CKER! HOW YOU DARE CALLING ME AFTER ALL THIS YEARS? YOU PIECE OF SH*T! HOW YOU DID GET MY NUMBER?"_

"Yes, I see you haven't changed at all…" Jose cringed from the other side of the line.

" _WHO GAVE YOU MY NUMBER?"_

"Your lovely mother gave it to me. I paid her a visit early this morning; she was delighted to see me. She still cooks the best dumplings I have ever-"

"WHAT? YOU SON OF A B*TCH! YOU DARED TO GO TO MY MOTHER'S HOUSE! I WILL KILL YOU!"

Jose rolled his eyes. All his life, he has wondered how such a lovely woman could have ended up raising such a son "Fong, I know you are obviously still mad, and I know you probably want to let out some steam first, but I REALLY don't have time for it today, okay? So, I need you to stop acting like a brainless thug for a second and listen to me. I need a favor… a HUGE favor"

" _Pffff! Are you kidding me! How can you even dare to ask me for a favor?! What a little piece of…"_

"Shut up for a second, alright!" Jose finally snapped "of course, I'm not asking you to do it for free; I'm going to pay you… a lot"

" _Hmp… now we are talking. But do you really expect me to believe that a rat like you would have enough lettuce to pay for my services"_

 _Did he just say lettuce?_ "I really don't feel like explaining myself to you, Fong. Just tell me if you are going to collaborate with me or not. You more than anyone know, I can just go and contact any other low-life-purple-dragon to help me. I'm sure someone else would be interested in gaining ten grands"

" _Wait, wait! What kind of favor are we talking about?_ "

"I'm looking for a missing girl…"

" _A missing girl?"_ Fong repeated mockingly _"Do you know how many missing girls are in this city? You will need to be more specific"_

"Someone kidnapped her tonight… she disappeared just after two punks attacked me on the street… one of them was wearing a hockey mask and the other was wearing a really elaborate lizard costume. Are they part of your gang or something?"

" _WHU-WHAT? THOSE FUCKERS ARE NOT PART OF MY GANG! I HATE THOSE F*CKING FREAKS"_

"Then, can I at least assume you know who they are?"

Fong cleared his throat suspiciously _"maybe I do… maybe I don't"_

Jose took that as a confirmation "I need you to tell me where I can find them!" he rushed.

" _Are you crazy!? Nobody knows where those freaks hide"_

"Well, they have a friend… redhead, freckles. Does that ring a bell?"

" _Mmhh, I really don't remember clearly…maybe I do, maybe I don't"_

Jose's nostrils flared with contained rage; he really didn't have time for his little power games anymore "JUST ANSWER ME, OR I SWEAR I WILL FIND YOU AND BLOW YOUR HEAD WITH MY OWN HANDS MARICA DE-"

" _WHOA WHOA! Calm down fagg*t. Who do think you are? The guy from TAKEN? Relax your ass a little, I need time to collect that kind of information you know?"_

Jose's free hand went to his forehead "Afff… How much time do you need?"

" _Maybe two hours"_

"I will give you half an hour… or the deal is over"

.

* * *

.

For some reason, April hasn't been able to conceive any sleep that night, not even after finishing some of her pending school work.

The events that had developed earlier that night had her turning around in her bed until the break of dawn. She just couldn't help but wonder where that strange girl has come from, and why has she decided to go after her. Like, why her? April was well aware of her own particular 'situation' and part of her knew her life would never be 'normal' no matter how much she wanted it, but that didn't mean she will have to be destined to attract the attention of every wacko in the city, right? Gosh, as if being the target of an evil alien species wasn't annoyance enough.

With a resigned huff, she got up from her bed and tried to push all the frustrating thoughts aside.

The stressed redhead decided to prepare a big and delicious breakfast for her and her dad in order to clean her mind. However, after several failed attempts on trying to make a decent omelet and other various failed attempts to prepare edible pancakes, she ended up settling down for a bowl of cereal and milk.

"Good morning sweetie, did you sleep well?" Kirby O'Neil greeted cheerfully as he rounded the kitchen island to plant a small kiss over his daughter forehead.

"Morning dad…" April greeted back with a dead voice, staring emptily at her untouched bowl of cereal. The lack of sleep was clearly starting to take a toll on her.

"Long night sweetie?" he asked, walking to the kitchen counter to serve two cups of coffee, one for him and other for his clearly sleep deprived daughter.

"Hmmm" she hummed as she played with her soft cereal.

Her father gave her a worried glance as he poured the steaming dark liquid "Why don't you take the day off, sweetie? You seem pretty tired"

April sighed and lowered her spoon "I wish I could dad, but I need to go to the lair… last night things got a little bit crazy and we are now dealing with a problem that mainly involves me"

"What do you mean? What happened?" he asked worriedly, taking a seat in front of his daughter.

"Well… I actually haven't told you anything about this before…" she said sheepishly, giving her dad a timid glance "BUT, only because I didn't want to make you unnecessarily worry" she hurried to add.

Her father flashed a gentle smile "I understand April. But, you have to know that I'm already unnecessarily worried about you all the time. That's kind of my job"

"Yes… you have a point there"

"Then, tell me about your night sweetie" he said, placing the warm cup in front on his pouty daughter.

April her opened mouth to speak, but paused for a second to ask herself, was this really a story she wanted to share with her father? Something inside her was telling her she would regret even touching the subject, but after seeing her dad's really eager-to-listen- expression, she knew she couldn't back up anymore "Okay, everything started last Friday…"

.

* * *

.

Back onto the lair's lab…

"Please, stop crying…" Donnie pleaded with a monotone voice for what it felt like the millionth time tonight. By this point, he was wishing with all his heart for one of his brothers to come and release him from this babysitting torture.

"…" Instead of answering, Charlotte limited to give him another annoyed look and turning her face away.

Donnie felt the little patience he has left slipping away. He has dealt with difficult humans before, but this girl mood was like a roller coaster…a really whiny roller coaster. But, after spending all his life living with a really difficult older brother and a really uncontrollable little brother, Donatello wasn't just going to sit and let this girl have her way with him anymore.

"Alright, if you want to act like a kid, then I will treat you like a kid!" Donnie's eyes became flames, and Charlotte's sobbing was interrupted when she felt a sudden force lifting her from the floor.

"Hey! What are you doing? Put me down!" she protested, but her tantrum was proven fruitless once she found herself sitting over the medical table again "Why! Yooou!" her whole face flushed red, and the small wings on her back started flapping around like a furious chicken, obviously she wasn't happy with being contradicted like that.

"What? You wanted to stay in the floor?" Donnie retorted with a crooked smile, feeling a little bit satisfied by her annoyed reaction.

She clicked her tongue at him "Why don't you just admit you wanted to touch me? Tsk, talking about lecherous"

The genius turtle's smug expression disappeared in an instant "Whu- What!" small pink lines appeared on his cheeks, as well as a frown on his forehead "Listen to me you-" a loud beeping sound coming from his scanner machine cut off whatever he wanted to said "Wait here" he ordered to the sobbing girl.

Donnie rushed to his main desk and saw a small slip of paper sticking out from one of the scanner's slots, which meant that the results were ready. Donnie quickly teared off of the small piece of paper and his heart began beating fast by the anticipation. He was finally going to discover what kind of materials that strange bow was made of. _"Now, let's see, It is composed by…"_ However, all his excitement faded once he read that the only material that has been discovered was… bamboo… one of the commonest types of woods used to elaborate hand-made bows _"How- how! How can it be? It's just a regular bow then?"_ his chestnut orbs became tiny points of shock _"that can't be… I mean…is ridiculous"_ he began thinking something must had gone terribly wrong with the machine, and was about to look for his tool box to open it and see if it was functioning correctly when a faint sob caught his attention.

Donnie went stiff and gave a subtle side look to the girl crying on the other side of the lab _"Was she telling the truth then?"_ he immediately shook his head in denial. That just couldn't be possible, that was just crazy. She couldn't really be a Cupid… but, if she was really telling the truth then… he turned around, already feeling displeased. However, he couldn't help but feel a pan of guiltiness once he saw her trying to wipe the blood from her face with her already blood-soaked hands _"Sigh…that's right, I need to fix her nose"_

The genius turtle, approached the girl as quietly and stealthy as possible "Here…" he said once he stood in front of her, making the young miss gasp when she realized how close he had gotten without her noticing.

She recovered fast from the surprise, and noticed he was only extending his hand to her, offering a handkerchief "for your nose…" he pointed out, inching the piece of cloth closer.

She took it and immediately covered her face with it, and for some strange reason she began crying one more time.

Donnie buried his face in his palms to let out a chocked groan. He didn't understand why…

"I'm so-srry" Yet, those muffled words took him completely out of guard.

"Excuse me?" Don wasn't sure he has heard right.

She removed the piece of cloth from her face to look at him properly "I'm sorry…" she repeated with a really nasal voice product of all the crying and the blood stuck in her nose "my attitude towards you just now was totally unjustifiable. But is just that, after being seen in such a humiliating and disgraceful situation, I didn't know what to do, and I ended up just being rude"

 _Oh, so she was just feeling embarrassed_. Donnie was left bewildered by the girl's sudden change of attitude, or maybe she didn't have a change of attitude and he had just misjudged her all along. The genius would have thought that, after living all his life hiding from the human's inside a sewer, he would have learned not to jump into conclusions so easily about people.

"I just wanted to crawl to a hole and disa- Ouch!Gezzz" she hissed after accidentally touching her hurt nose in a wrong way.

"Don't touch it! Let me…" the turtle was about to push her hands away in order to inspect her nose, but paused when she gave him a frightened look, maybe he would need to try a different approach "I mean…" he cleared his throat "Might I help you with that?"

The young miss went pensive for a second before doing a small nod of approval.

Donnie began treating her injuries and thinking about what she had just said "By disgraceful and humiliating behavior you mean your panic attack just now?" he asked.

At the mention of those words, her cheeks turned a darker shade of pink "I- I'm just not good, dealing with stress- Ouch, Ouch" Charlotte hissed in pain when he applied a little bit of pressure to her nose.

"S- Sorry! I needed to check if it was broken… the good news is that it isn't" he tried to give her a calming smile, but stopped after she shot him another grumpy look.

Grabbing his medical thongs, Donnie took a small piece of gauze soaked in saline solution and started cleaning her face wounds… specially her nose, which was dripping blood like a faucet "So…" he began "It was really necessary to punch yourself?"

She averted her eyes to the floor "It was either that or the tranquilizers"

"I see…" Donnie couldn't help but notice that she talked as if those attacks happened quite frequently. And, after seeing her talk so openly about her issues, he was feeling tented to ask her more about those anxiety attacks, but didn't want to come out as inconsiderate by pushing the matter further "I will give you a cold pad for your cheek, but it will be bruised for a while"

"Great" she replied sarcastically before giving the genius turtle a timid glance "Ehmmm… could you please not tell anyone about… you know…what just happened… I- I understand if you can't, but…-Sigh… I guess if you thought I was weird before, you must be thinking I'm really coconuts right now"

Donatello was a little bit taken aback by her words. He had actually thought she was totally coconuts from the beginning, and now he was feeling like complete jerk. However, he believed he knew just what to say to make her feel a little bit better "Are you kidding me? You practically got abducted by mutant turtles. I mean, if having a panic attack isn't a normal behavior, then I don't know what it is"

Charlotte's eyes grew as wide as the ones of a cartoon lamb. Any other person would have already freaked out by the _being abducted by mutant turtles_ part. But, again, this is Charlotte who we are talking about "Re- Really? You think that way? That… I'm normal?" she asked with a little bit of incredulity in her voice, as if expecting him to change his opinion at any second.

The turtle just nodded with an understanding expression "Yes… I know there are a lot of things we still need to clear out, but what it concerns me I don't really think you have an evil intention towards April… and I'm sorry for acting so cold before, I should have noticed my questions were making you feel uncomfortable. I guess I let my personal feelings cloud my judgment, but, I promise that won't happen again"

The little miss felt her heart skip a beat, the turtle's words have been so simple, yet they have moved her in a really strange way "Thank you… ehmmm… purple turtle. Sorry, I don't really remember you name… I'm not good at remembering stuff…"

"Let's do something then… we can start all over again. My name is Donatello, nice to meet you"

She lowered her sight to his green three-fingered hand as if in doubt or at least what Donnie thought was doubt "Nice to meet you…" she finally said, using both of her hands to grip Donnie's big mutant hand "my name is Charlotte"

Donnie's lips turned upward as he felt all the tension melting away. He should have tried being a little more friendly since the beginning. It would have surely save him from a lot of headaches.

However...The poor and naïve Donatello was about to learn that… If you tended the little miss a hand, she would make sure to take your entire arm.

"Wow… Your skin feels really amazing… is so scaly, but smooth at the same time, and the color is like the perfect tone of green" The way she suddenly began staring at him, made Donnie feel really uncomfortable.

"Uhmm, o-okay, thank you, I guess…" he tried removing his hand from her grip, but she just grabbed him harder.

"Imagine how many beautiful bags and shoes you can make with it"

"Alright, let go of me, now!"

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* * *

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"A WHAT?" Mr. O'Neil blurted just in the middle of his daughter narration.

"A Cupid!" April repeated to her bewildered father.

"Like the baby who flies and shoots at people with arrows? That kind of Cupid?" Mr. O'Neil was so confused that he even made the 'shooting arrows' gesture with his arms.

"Ujum" she nodded.

The ginger man shook his head, trying to clear his mind "Okay… letting that absurdity about being a _Cupid_ aside… why was she after _you_ specifically?"

April rested her head on her hand and sighed "That's the fishy part; she refuses to tell us her reasons. That's why the turtles have her under custody"

Mr. O'Neil grew concerned "She's in the lair? Couldn't she be dangerous or something?"

April shrugged "We don't know… she surely doesn't give us the vibe of being evil, but she's definitely hiding something."

"This situation is so strange" Mr. O'Neil took a sip from his coffee as he mused an idea on his head "Hmm, does at least her little tricks work?"

"What do you mean?" April raised an eyebrow.

"You know, she says she's a Cupid, so… does she really make people fall in love or something?"

His daughter made an incredulous snort "Please Dad, that just not possible. Is true that what she did to Mikey and Casey was strange, but you can't really-"

"April, after all the crazy adventures you and your friends have been through. Are you really going to tell me that this is something so HARD to believe? Your best friends are giant mutant turtles for God's sake!"

"Yes! But at least they have a more believable story than hers! And that says a lot don't you think?"

Mr. O'Neil rolled his eyes at his daughter stubbornness "So… in resume, she was after you because she wanted to make you fall in love?"

"Yeah… apparently" she answered with a little bit of shyness. April didn't feel really comfortable talking about this topic with her father.

"With whom?" his father insisted, zipping his coffee and trying not to sound as curious as he actually was.

Of course, April was able to notice it right away "Uhmm… Well… at first I thought she wanted to pair me with Casey… but, I think that at one point, she became so frustrated that she literally didn't care anymore. Then, she cornered me in alley and Donnie-"

Her father's eyes lightened up with curiosity and he became so excited he couldn't wait for his daughter to finish the story "Oh! Then, did she end up pairing you with Donatello?" he asked, not doing a really good job hiding the glee in his voice.

April frowned at her father's out of place enthusiasm "No… Donnie took her arrows away before she could do anything"

Mr. O'Neil slumped visibly against his chair "Oh… that's…" he made a pause, looking for the right word to describe the situation "unfortunate" he finally said after not finding a more subtle word.

"Dad!" April whined.

"What? I'm only saying that she can't be so bad if she changed her mind about pairing you with Casey after realizing there was a better match for you out there"

April stood up so fast that she almost knocked her chair to the floor "Alright… it was nice talking with you dad, but I REALLY need to go now. Have a nice day"

Mr. O'Neil chuckled at his daughter shyness "Have fun today sweetie!" he waved, watching how she walked out of the kitchen as fast as her legs allowed her _"She's just like her mother"_ he thought with a smile before sipping the last bit of his warm coffee.

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**Oh, Mr. O'Neil, you are such a tease! I really hope everyone had enjoyed this chapter! It was a little bit slow for my taste, but I think the little bonding moment between Donnie and Charlotte made it worth it! Also, I will really loveeee to hear what you guys think about the story so far! Do you like it? Do you hate it? What do you guys think will happen next? I'm literally dying to hear some feedback! I will try to shorten the chapters in the future, so they can come out quickly. Thanks a lot for reading and following the fanfic, I know my writing still has a lot of flaws, and that there's still a lot of room for improvement, and that's why I really appreciate you giving me a chance! I'm really open for suggestions! I will be trying to update more regularly from now on, soooooooo see you guys in the next chapter! Luv ya all!**


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